TorchwoodTEDCO
by SonicPencil
Summary: Adriana is Torchwood's Technical and Evidentiary Destroyer and Cover Operator- TEDCO, for short. She grows close to the team, which could prove to be beneficial, or tear them apart. Love, lust, violence, death, and aliens- an average day at Torchwood.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Flashing lights, pounding bass lines, and sweaty, intoxicated bodies were a part of Adriana's night life. Serving alcohol and dancing for cash was her job. Not completely by choice, she insisted, but because she was desperate for rent money and it was the only job available at the time. It was a relatively uneventful job until some of her coworkers and friends began to go missing while walking home at night. Cardiff was always seen as a safe place, and no one had had any trouble before, but now people were disappearing for days and turning up dead in the bay. Adrianna was determined to find out the cause of the tragedies.

She worked on her own to get to the bottom of it, and she wasn't getting very far. She'd taken on extra shifts, ordered everyone to either call a cab or walk with someone else if they didn't have a car. She personally carried pepper spray and had bought instructional karate DVDs in attempt to protect herself. There had been no advances and no suspicious behavior since she started her investigation. She took note of everyone that walked in her bar door and everyone who left, when they left, and who they left with. She was obsessed with cracking the case.

Then, one Saturday night, a man walked in the front door. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a pressed, button down shirt and a suit jacket. No one wore that type of outfit to a bar. His stance was semi- stiff from the moment he walked in the door and continued when he sat at a stool at her bar. He looked nervous, like he'd never been there before. He barely looked at Catherine who was dancing on the stage at the time, and simply ordered a pint. Catherine was one of their sexiest and most talented dancers. She captivated and aroused everyone who saw her, but this man only glanced. He was terribly suspicious.

"Hey, sexy, haven't seen you around," Adriana said and leaned across the bar. "You new in town?"

"No, just checking out the scene," he said and sipped his drink. He looked at her, but at her face and not the cleavage that she was exposing. It seemed that it would take more than _that_ to get him to talk.

"And how do you like it so far?" she asked, flirtatiously.

"It's . . . interesting," he said, glancing about again, completely unaware of Adriana's advances.

She frowned and stepped away from him to mix drinks for a thirsty couple. She was away for two minutes before she was able to look back again. He was closely examining the people in the bar and seemed to be talking to himself.

She edged her way closer and listened.

"Any activity? . . . Well, there doesn't seem to be anything here. . . . No, no one to follow or keep an eye on," he was saying.

She went around to the other side of the bar when it was her break and let her hand slide across his back. He spun around quickly.

"Wanna dance, sweetheart?" she cooed.

There was a pause before he turned his head and said: "No, Jack," under his breath. "It's not funny! . . . Fine." Then he turned back to her, smiled, and said "I'd love to."

He wasn't a very good dancer, and he seemed more interested in the people around them than her. She sighed and gave up on wooing him into telling her that he was the killer. His head was turned and she noticed an earpiece in his ear. So he _wasn't _talking to himself, he was communicating with someone else! Adriana reached up and quickly took it from his ear. He not must be the only person doing the killing! Maybe he was just the attractive bait that hooked girls in and brought them back to the others. She took off running through the crowd, around the bar, and into the back room. She shut the door and locked it.

Breathing heavily, she looked at the earpiece and saw a small button on it. She pressed it and put it in her ear.

"Ianto, what's happening? I don't hear the music anymore," said an American man's voice.

"Hello?" she said.

"Who is this?" A woman asked.

"First, who are you?" Adriana asked.

"We're trying to figure out who's been killing those people," said the woman. "What's your name?"

"Adriana," she replied. "And I'm trying to figure out who's doing this, too."

"Where's Ianto?" said the American.

"Probably looking for me. I kind of grabbed his earpiece and ran for it," she replied.

The American chuckled. "Please go find him and give him back the earpiece."

Adriana turned around to go back to find Ianto, but there was a loud slam and the door opened. It was Ianto, looking extremely pissed off.

"He found me," she said, staring wide-eyed at Ianto.

He walked swiftly towards her and she quickly handed him his earpiece.

"Don't move," he said sternly as she had begun to walk towards the door. He put back in his earpiece. "I'm here. . . . There was nothing I could do! . . . She what? . . . Yeah, I have some. I'll find time. . . . Adriana?" he was talking to her now.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me everything you know about the killer," he demanded.

"I don't know much. Actually I don't know anything. I've just been calling cabs for the dancers, making sure everyone walks with another person when they leave, paying attention to everyone who walks in and out of the door and who they're with. You were the first suspicious person so far," she explained.

"Good work. I'm sure you saved many lives," he said.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Now would you like to help us? We have an idea," Ianto said.

"Sure, what can I do?" she asked eagerly.

The plan was for Adriana to leave the bar last and walk on her own down the block. Jack, Gwen, and Ianto were going to be watching from three separate locations, waiting for something to happen. It was risky, but she was up for it. Anything to stop her friends' killings.

At about three in the morning, she was locking the door of the bar behind her as she was leaving. Her heart was racing in her chest already and she hadn't even been attacked yet. Adriana began her walk down the street listening intently for any sign of movement. She was two minutes away from the bar when she heard a strange wind-like sound. She spun around to see the most hideous thing she'd ever seen. She screamed and began to panic as it continued to approach her. It looked like a ghost; it was partially transparent and didn't have any footsteps. It was black and grey with piercing and terrifying red eyes. She couldn't help but stare into them in fear. It was just in front of her when its eyes seemed to cry blood. Blood dripped down its hideously deformed and decayed face and onto her hands. Adriana lifted a knee to strike its groin, but it wasn't solid. It felt as though she was kneeing water. When she couldn't injure it she began to run away from it.

She reached a corner of a building and Ianto came running from the alley. They collided and he pushed her into the alley and then followed her in. They peeked around the corner and saw Jack and Gwen pointing guns at the hideous figure. Ianto whispered "Stay here" to Adriana, and ran out of the alley with his own gun raised. She winced as they fired. The bullets went through the monster and hit the building behind it.

"It's not solid," Adriana called to them.

"What do we do, Jack?" Gwen asked with a panicked worry in her voice.

He didn't answer; he reached into the pocket of his military style jacket and pulled out what resembled a sea shell. He threw it on the ground and a blue light shone out of it. The light seemed to trap the terrifying creature because it no longer was slowly moving towards Adriana. Ianto and Gwen lowered their guns and looked at Adriana. She stood up and approached them. Ianto nodded to the others and said to Adriana: "Let's go for a coffee."

Adriana was pleased he asked and agreed to go. He even paid for her drink and carried them to the table. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," he said kindly.

"Do you have any idea what that was?" she asked and took a sip.

"Not yet, but we'll figure it out later," Ianto said, eying her drink and putting a hand in his pocket.

"I have so many questions to ask, I don't know where to begin!" Adriana laughed.

Ianto shifted in his seat and eyed her drink again. Adriana had worked in a bar long enough to be able to catch the signs that someone wants to slip something into her drink. She'd saved enough girls' lives to be able to catch it in her own. So she excused her self and stood in the hallway that led to the toilets. She didn't enter the toilets, but she peeked around the corner of the hallway and watched Ianto put something in her coffee and stir it. She sighed and went into the toilets and washed her hands before returning to her seat.

"So, do you think it was _aliens_?" she asked, whispering the word 'aliens.'

Ianto smirked. "Possibly. That's one theory."

"Oh, wow," she said and sat back in her chair, pretending to take a sip of her coffee. She looked at her cup. "I should have gotten something without caffeine; I'm going to be up all night!"

"Nah, you'll get tired soon, you've had a long night," Ianto said, looking down.

"Maybe I am sleepy," she said, feigning a yawn.

"Here, I'll walk you home," Ianto said and jumped up. He seemed anxious, like he wanted to get out of there as soon as they could.

"No, it's fine. Thank you," she said and squeezed his hand. "For everything. You three are life savers."

"It's our job." He shrugged. "Aren't you afraid to walk home alone?"

"No, why should I be? The monster's gone," she said simply.

"You mean you're really not scared there's more?" he said disbelievingly.

"No, not really. It's possible, but I'm sure you'd know before I would," she smiled and began to walk to the door. "See you around."

He nodded his goodbye as she left the coffee shop. Adriana quickly made her way back to her apartment and immediately did a search for a Ianto living in Cardiff. There were a few results, but she was able to narrow it down by his approximate age. Tomorrow, she'd pay him a visit and ask more questions about the possible alien and why he tried to drug her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next morning, Adriana woke early. She had a shower, a cup of coffee, a bowl of cereal, and left her flat. She wondered if Ianto would recognize her now that she wasn't dressed for work. Instead of wearing a flimsy top and a miniskirt, she was wearing a pair of jeans and a jersey t-shirt. And instead of having soft waves in her brown hair, she had her hair up in a pony tail. Minimal make-up and low key clothes was her normal, everyday look. Adriana looked as if she was the introverted twin of her work self. But in reality, she put on a show at work, it was all an act. She would never be so forward out of the bar.

Looking at the print out of his address, she crossed the street. Someone was coming out of the building as she was approaching it. They held the door for her and greeted her. She thanked them and took the stairs to his floor. She had been confident until she got to his door, then millions of doubts came to her mind. But she figured that she'd come all this way, she might as well just do it.

Adriana knocked on the door, hesitantly at first, but then more confidently. The door opened and Ianto stared at her with an expression of startled confusion. "M-may I help you?" he asked.

"Good morning, Ianto. I take it you weren't expecting to see me alive and well," she said with a sly smirk.

"No, you just weren't supposed to- what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Coming to talk to you," she said simply.

"Come in," he said, still baffled, as he moved aside for her to enter.

It was obvious that he was getting ready to go to work. The news was on the telly, the smell of coffee was freshly mingled with the scent of maple syrup and freezer waffles, his tie was just draped around his neck, and his hair was slightly ruffled. "Can I get you anything?" he asked.

"No, thank you," she said and smiled politely. "But you can tell me why you tried to drug me last night."

He opened and closed his mouth, trying to formulate an answer.

"Yes, I know you put something in my coffee, I watched you do it," she said and when he didn't say anything, she continued. "If you don't recall, I work in a bar, I see it a lot. I can recognize the signs."

"Signs?" he asked.

"Staring at my drink, looking anxious, and offering to 'walk me home,'" Adriana listed.

"Oh," he said as if he was making a mental note.

"Let me ask you again: why did you try to drug me?" she said seriously and stepped toward him.

"To protect you," he replied.

"From what?" She cried, unconvinced.

"From the truth," he said.

Her shoulders relaxed and she looked over his shoulder then back at his face. "About the alien that attacked those people," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Ianto said and looked at her searchingly.

"But I want to know about the alien. I don't want to forget," she insisted.

"You have to," he said sternly.

"No, I wont." She shook her head.

He sighed and tied his tie. "Don't go anywhere. We're going to talk to Jack about this."

Adriana grew nervous but excited at the same time. She sat in a chair at his small kitchen table while she waited for him. He was finished getting ready quickly and they left his flat. He was silent the entire drive to his work. Adriana followed his lead and looked out the window. They pulled up and parked near the Millennium Centre.

"You work here?" She asked.

"Sort of," he mumbled as they walked towards a building. Ianto took keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. It was a small shop selling postcards.

"Is this a joke?" she asked.

Ianto said nothing. He went behind the desk, pressed a button and a door opened on the far wall. He walked through it and she followed silently all the way to the main base. Adriana looked around with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Jack?" Ianto called.

"What is it Ianto?" came the American man's voice from a room on the second floor.

"We have a problem," Ianto said, looking at Adriana.

"Oi," Adriana said, offended.

Jack came out of his office and down the stairs. "Oh, hello," he said looking at her. "Are you . . .?"

"Adriana, yes. From last night," she finished and smiled.

"But I thought Ianto . . ." he trailed off again.

"Drugged me? Yeah, he thought so, as well." She smirked. "But he was unsuccessful."

"What do we do, sir?" Ianto asked.

Jack paused before answering. "We keep her."

"I'm not a stray dog!" she exclaimed.

"No, you're a stubborn stripper," Jack said.

"I'm not a stripper. I'm a bartender and dancer," she said defensively and crossed her arms.

"Speaking of your job, why the change of appearance? Not trying to throw us off, are you?" Jack asked and led them back to his office.

"This is how I normally look. I'm not a natural slut," she said.

"So it's an act?" Jack asked as if it were important.

"Yeah," Adriana said and exchanged a confused glance with Ianto.

"Sorry, but how is this relevant to the problem?" Ianto asked, leaning against a filing cabinet in Jack's office.

"Remember how I said that you, me, and Gwen had to talk about something important?" Jack asked with a small smile on his lips.

"Yes," Ianto said slowly, obviously not understanding where this was going.

"It was about a message from Torchwood Two. They're proposing a new position on the staff," Jack said. "They said that since the spaceship over London on Christmas and Canary Wharf, the people are becoming more and more suspicious and knowledgeable when they shouldn't be yet. It's a position of Technical and Evidentiary Destroyer and Cover Operator- which is big, fancy talk for someone who gets rid of all evidence and cleans everything up to look like nothing happened and then make a cover story for anything anyone saw. Something rational that they can believe. None of that 'something in the water' crap."

"Where is this going, Jack?" Ianto asked. Adriana was staring at Jack through narrowed eyes suspiciously.

"I think Adriana is a possible candidate for the job. Your act as a stripper sure had us fooled, so I think we could give you a trial period." Jack smiled and leaned back in his chair, looking at the petite woman in front of him

"A trial period? Do those _exist_ in Torchwood?" Ianto asked.

"They do now. Welcome to the team, Adriana," Jack said and shook her hand.

"Uh, thanks," Adriana said, still processing what had just happened.

"You start today. First assignment: cover up the disappearances. Spin a story that can be released to the press to calm them a little and to take the attention off of us," Jack demanded. "I want in on my desk by noon, you got that?"

"Y-Yes," she said, nervously.

"Good." He smiled. "Now, I'll give you a tour of the place."

After the tour and complete introductions, Adriana was sat at a desk to work. She spun slowly in the desk chair, thinking of any possible story that the public would believe. By ten, she had an idea. She quickly typed up a full cover story about a serial killer that went after young people who lived the party life. She created a false identity for the killer as a middle aged man with a grudge against young people after a drunk driving accident killed his eight year-old daughter three years ago. She thought it was brilliant, but she figured that the reporters who received the information would do their research and find out that there was no fifty three year-old Robert Greene with a deceased child in a Cardiff jail.

Jack was doing paperwork when she knocked on the door of his office. "Come in, Adriana."

"I finished the cover story," she said meekly and handed the papers to him.

"Have a seat," Jack said before he began to read.

Adriana sat in the chair in front of Jack's desk and waited for him to finish. She looked around but always ended up staring at Jack, waiting for some kind of reaction. Finally, he put down the papers and looked at her. "How are you going to pull this off?" he asked with a glint of humor in his eyes.

"I was thinking that maybe Gwen could use her connection with the police to get them to agree and say that they have a Robert Greene in their prison and give a statement about it," Adriana replied.

"And what about the people who heard the gun shots and screaming last night?" he asked.

"The gunshots were a car backfiring and severe engine trouble. The screaming was the driver who . . . was frightened by an animal in an alley, so she jumped into her car and tried to drive away," Adriana said, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Perfect, thank you, Adriana," Jack said proudly. "Now, you can talk to Gwen about her part and then submit the information to the newspapers."

"Got it, but I have to be out of here by five because I work at the bar tonight," she said, standing up.

"Quit," Jack said.

"Why?"

"Because I pay better and I need you to be available whenever I need you," he replied.

"A bit selfish, are we?" Adriana joked.

"Very," he laughed as Adriana left his office.

Gwen and Adriana became fast friends while working on the project. They gossiped about Jack and Ianto and Gwen filled her in about the boys' "private times" and when to not go into Jack's office. Adriana found this hilarious and told Gwen how she tried to seduce Ianto into telling her that he was the murderer and how terribly she failed. They shared a good laugh and got their work finished on time for Adriana to go to the bar for her last shift.

That night at work Adriana could hardly concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing. All she could think about was Torchwood and her new job- that is if she passed the "trial period." She had already made the wrong drinks for six people, dropped three glasses, cost the bar enough money for them to send her home, and was about to tell her boss that she was taking the night off and wasn't going to dance at ten. Then, just as her boss came into work, and she opened her mouth to say she was leaving, the door opened and Jack, Gwen, and Ianto walked in.

"Yeah, Adriana?" her boss, Mary Anne, asked.

"Oh, never mind. It wasn't important," she said, not taking her eyes off the three that just walked into the bar.

"What the hell is he wearing?" Mary Anne asked, nodding towards Jack.

Adriana grinned and said: "It's a military coat."

Mary Anne shook her head and went into her office and Adriana approached her new colleagues and smiled. "What can I get you guys?"

"Yeah, one of those tops for Gwen," Jack said. Adriana looked down at her sheer, black top that showed her lacy, black bra underneath it.

"Oi!" Gwen exclaimed and punched Jack in the arm.

"While you're at it, get one for Jack, as well," Ianto said with a straight face.

After they ordered their drinks Gwen asked: "Are you dancing tonight?"

Adriana swallowed hard. "Uhm, I was supposed to," she said, glancing at the stage.

"Well, don't let us interrupt," Jack said with a sly grin.

"Actually, I'm not feeling all that well, so I don't think I'll be dancing," she said, feigning a cough.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I hope you feel better," Gwen said with a sweet, mothering look.

"Don't fall for it, Gwen, she was lying," Ianto said.

Adriana ended up dancing that night. But when Jack shoved Ianto towards the stage with a tip, Adriana glared at them and ignored Ianto. She was mortified! She'd danced for thousands of people before, given numerous middle-aged men birthday lap dances, but dancing in front of these three people made her mouth go dry, her palms to sweat, and her knees to shake. Adriana was the bar's second best dancer, so she was able to complete her performance without one bad shimmy.

After her performance, Adriana went into the dressing room to change out of her costume and into her bartending clothes. She opened the door to see Catherine crying hysterically and Mary Anne and Jerry, another bartender, consoling her.

"What happened?" Adriana asked, rushing to Catherine's side.

Jerry grabbed her hand and led them out of the room. She looked at him imploringly.

"Leela is missing," he said in a low voice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Leela is missing," he said in a low voice. His sad and destroyed expression clashed with his tattoos and facial piercings.

She gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth. They all loved Catherine's twelve year-old daughter. She was the sweetest and smartest kid Adriana knew. Catherine often had to bring her to the bar because she couldn't afford a babysitter on all the nights she worked. Leela would sit in the dressing room and help the dancers get dressed and read books that Adriana recommended. Now she was gone.

"She was with her babysitter tonight and they went out for dinner. Leela had excused herself to the toilet and never came back. The babysitter went looking for her ten minutes later, but couldn't find her. No one saw her leave, but they think that she was taken out the bathroom window," Jerry said thickly, his eyes moist. Leela was Jerry's "little mate."

"I'll take care of this," Adriana said determinedly. She spun on her heel, and ran back into the bar without changing. Jack, Ianto, and Gwen were sitting at a table chatting when Adriana approached.

"Are you going to wear that all night?" Jack asked with a laugh, looking over her flashy outfit.

"A little girl has gone missing," she said, ignoring him. Her throat constricted and she tried to swallow it away.

"Oh, no," Gwen said, and offered Adriana her chair. Adriana sat down; the chair was cool against her exposed thighs.

"She is one of our dancers' daughters. Her name is Leela and she's only twelve," Adriana said, now fighting tears. "She went missing while out to dinner with her babysitter. Jack, we need to find her. I know it's not aliens, but it is really important to Catherine and a little girl's life may depend on it."

Ianto pulled out a device that Adriana had never seen before. He pressed a few buttons before reading something on the screen. "There has been no rift activity this evening," he said and looked up at Jack.

Jack was studying Adriana intently. "We'll take a look," he said finally.

"Thank you," Adriana cried and stood up to kiss Jack on the cheek before running off towards the dressing room again.

She changed, told her boss that she was leaving early, and met up with the others again. Adriana was equipped with a Bluetooth earpiece, a gun ("Just in case," Jack had said, reluctantly handing it to Adriana), and racing adrenaline. She was practically vibrating with excitement and fear as she and the others got into the SUV. She and Ianto sat in the backseat while he did scans on local news reports and police calls. Adriana paid attention to what he did on the computer and stored the info into her "Must Not Forget" brain file.

"As of two days ago, there have been thirteen reported disappearances of children between the ages of six and fourteen," Ianto told them. "All in Cardiff."

"No rift activity? Not even reverse rift activity?" Jack asked.

"Reverse rift activity?" Adriana asked. Jack had told her all about the rift and how aliens and things came through, but he didn't mention anything about reverse rift activity.

"It's when things get sucked into the rift instead of spit out," Jack explained briefly.

"Can you stop it?" She asked.

"No," Jack replied.

"There has been no rift activity whatsoever. Besides the alien from the other night when we met Adriana, but that has been recorded and identified as so," Ianto announced, peering at the screen.

"Then it's definitely not alien," Gwen sighed. "Kidnapper, you think?"

"Very probable." Jack nodded.

"Poor, Leela," Adriana said quietly.

"Plot the locations of where all the children went missing and their home addresses," Jack ordered.

Ianto tapped away at the laptop for a few minutes. "There's a pattern," he said, his speech quickening. "All thirteen children have been taken from one central location. All on the same street!"

"That's where we'll start," Jack said.

Ianto gave Jack the addresses and Jack sped up. They arrived at the location of the first reported disappearance a little after eleven. It was an arcade which was closed for the evening. Adriana's heart fell when she saw it was closed. But, that, apparently, didn't stop Torchwood. Gwen unlocked the door with a strange, beeping device and they all went inside. No one and nothing out of the ordinary was discovered. They moved on to the next location; a shop. Again, nothing out of the ordinary was found. Their next stop was an abandoned shop only a block from where Leela went missing. A child had not gone missing there, but they figured it wouldn't hurt to check inside. Paper and a 'for sale' sign covered the windows so they couldn't see inside. Once the door was open, Adriana wanted to cry.

"Oh, my god," Gwen gasped.

There were all thirteen children, boys and girls, sitting on the floor of the room. They were in various states of undress and injury. Adriana, Gwen, and Ianto rushed to tend to the injured children. Leela was there, holding a smaller girl against her chest. Adriana hugged her and told her that they were there to help. Jack continued to where there was space for changing rooms with his gun raised. Adriana looked up only to see which direction he was going in before she continued to aid the crying children. All of them were terrified and hurt in some way. Gwen was calling for ambulances when they heard two gun shots. Gwen ushered the screaming children out of the door quickly before joining Ianto and Adriana in looking for Jack.

Adriana and Ianto reached Jack first, their guns raised, ready to shoot. They rounded the corner to the back room and saw Jack standing before a very shocked man. Both were holding guns. Adriana looked to see who was shot, and saw blood seeping through Jack's shirt. She gasped. Jack chanced a super quick glance to see Adriana and Ianto coming to his side.

"This man was going to sell the children," Jack said with disgust.

"No," Adriana said in a whisper.

"Yes, and when we came in he thought we were the police, so he was running to hide in the storage room," Jack repeated the man's story. "Unfortunately for him we're not the police. We're Torchwood," Jack said and shot the man in the leg. He was an older man, about sixty, with stringy and grey hair. His skin was ragged and uncared for and his clothes were filthy. His hazy eyes watered with the pain of the bullet.

There were sirens in the distance and ambulances and police arrived in minutes. Jack and Ianto stayed with the old man while Adriana and Gwen comforted the children. Each child had been photographed, some stripped for the picture, and beaten for crying. There were no molestation or rape cases, though exploitation, kidnapping, and human trafficking were among the man's charges. After the man was taken away, the children had been questioned and then parents called. The Torchwood team sat with the children until their teary-eyed parents showed up.

Adriana looked around for Catherine, but she hadn't arrived yet. But her eyes settled on Ianto who was sitting with a very young boy, showing him how to tie his shoe. The kid was wiping his nose and rubbing his red eyes, he'd stopped crying for his parents so that he could learn. Adriana caught Ianto's eye and smiled. He returned it before glancing towards Jack who was also watching him. Adriana remembered the relationship Ianto and Jack had and looked away.

There was a shriek of "Leela!" and running footsteps. Catherine was running toward Adriana and Leela with her arms outstretched and tears running down her cheeks. Leela jumped up and met her mom. Adriana left them alone to be reunited and joined Gwen. Gwen was leaning against the SUV watching the remaining few kids.

"I'm so glad we did this," Adriana sighed.

"Me too. It's terrible what that man was doing," she said and shook her head.

There was silence for a moment. "It went pretty well for my first day, didn't it?" Adriana asked.

Gwen laughed. "Compared to mine it was absolutely the best!"

After every child had gone home with their parents and the man responsible had been taken by the police, the team headed back to headquarters with high spirits and the drive to celebrate a job well done.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Two weeks passed and Adriana grew restless. She'd come to work every day and stayed for _hours_ and she was sick of it. She wanted a day off.

"Seriously, you don't have a . . . movie night? Or, or a bowling tournament?" She asked over lunch one slow Monday.

Jack, Gwen, and Ianto looked at each other strangely. "No," Ianto said as if it were obvious.

"Okay 'cos I was starting to think you did and you just weren't inviting me," Adriana said jokingly.

"We never invite the newbies," Ianto replied.

"I'm not new anymore, I've been here two weeks now," Adriana reasoned.

"Hmm," Jack said contemplatively. "Then I guess you can come next time."

Adriana laughed and thanked her lucky stars that she actually liked and got along with all of her coworkers. Granted there were only three of them, but still, the odds were slim.

After one measly Weevil hunt, they left early to go home. But Adriana was bored and needed to go out and do something, anything. She approached Gwen as she was putting on her coat. "Hey, Gwen, want to go see a movie or something?"

"Sorry, Adriana, I'm having dinner with Rhys," she said apologetically.

"It's okay," Adriana said and turned to see Ianto walking passed. Poor boy didn't know what was coming. "Hey Ianto," she said coquettishly.

He turned to her, looking startled and confused. "Yeah?"

"Want to go catch a film or something?" she asked.

"Uh- sure, why not?" he replied. "I'll . . . get my coat."

Adriana smiled. She went to walk to her desk to grab her things but Jack was standing there, his arms crossed and face stern. "Heyyyy," she said uneasily. "Wanna go see a movie as well?"

"No, I want to know why you asked Ianto," he said jealously.

"I'm not stealing him, Jack," she laughed. "It's just a movie!"

And so it was. A really stupid alien movie which she and Ianto thought would be satisfyingly ironic. They whispered throughout the movie, discussing the inaccuracies of the aliens and weapons, almost getting them kicked out. After the movie they went for ice cream where Adriana spilled chocolate ice cream on her shirt and pants and Ianto was extremely careful not to spill one bit on his suit. They sat on a bench along the street outside the ice cream shop, the cool breeze picking up Adriana's hair and dropping it onto her ice cream cone.

"Do you always wear a suit?" Adriana asked, sucking on the ends of her hair to get the ice cream off.

"Yes, why?" he asked.

"Just wondering, 'cos I've never seen you out of your suit- er, I mean in anything other than a suit." Adriana blushed. _Fumble!_

Ianto smirked. "The ladies like the suit."

"You mean Jack?" Adriana laughed.

"Him and the ladies," he clarified.

"So, I know this isn't really my place to ask but, do you only go for men?" Adriana had been curious ever since she saw him check out a girl while the team was in public.

"It's hard to explain, really. And I don't mind you asking, you're around me enough to have a right to know that. But, I had a girlfriend for a while; she worked for Torchwood, as well. Let's just say things didn't end well, though I did love her. For real loved her. But, Jack . . . he's the only other man," Ianto explained.

"Interesting," Adriana said slowly.

"I don't suppose you have a boyfriend?" he asked. "You never mention anyone."

"No, no one to speak of," she said and looked down.

"My super powers are detecting tension," he said.

She smiled. "No, it's just that I moved here to get away from some stuff."

"You're from London. Were you running from the law? Who the hell moves from London to Cardiff?" he laughed.

"Someone who has a bad family, no real friends, and an ex boyfriend she put in prison," Adriana replied.

He didn't say anything, only nodded to say he understood.

"So, how do you deal with this? What do you do to get Torchwood off of your mind?" Adriana asked.

"I don't deal with it. I don't think about how much it affects my life outside of work," he said, not looking her in the eye.

"Lie."

"Okay, I read, watch films, whatever. There isn't a correct answer, everyone is different. Gwen goes home to Rhys, Jack does god knows what, Owen used to drink and go out, and Toshiko would delve into technology and maths," Ianto listed. "Everyone does something different; you just need to figure it out before you go mad."

"Well, I think I found something," Adriana said.

"And what is that?" he asked.

"Talking to you, and knowing that I'm not the only one who feels as if Torchwood takes over everything," she explained.

"Good," he grinned.

"We should do this every week," Adriana proposed.

"Sounds like a plan," Ianto agreed.

"A film and ice cream," she said. "Could we plan things with Jack and Gwen, too? 'Cos I know Jack was upset we were going out tonight and I wouldn't want to leave Gwen out. Maybe Rhys could come with her."

"Uh, good luck getting that started," Ianto said sarcastically.

Adriana pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Jack: "This Friday, Torchwood Bowling Competition. You in?" She and Ianto awaited his reply: "Fine. And stop flirting with Ianto."

"What does he mean?" she asked Ianto, confused.

He frowned and looked around. His eyes rested on a security camera propped on a telephone pole across the street. "CCTV," he said.

"Don't stare at it!" Adriana giggled. She took out her cell again and sent a reply to Jack: "I'm so not flirting with Ianto. I would never do that!"

"Okay in about two minutes we should be obviously flirting, like over the top," Adriana said mischievously.

"Finally, someone else who likes pissing off Jack!" he exclaimed somewhat sarcastically.

Then Adriana slid a hand on his thigh. "This is kind of awkward but hilariously funny," she whispered in his ear.

"I wonder what he's thinking," Ianto said, wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

"He's probably jumping into the SUV to come here and get me to feed to a Weevil," Adriana said, her lips brushing against his cheek.

To passersby, and Jack, it would appear that they were whispering sexy things to each other and were about ready to go home to bed. But to them it was slightly awkward but fun.

"He has threatened to feed people to Weevils before. I thought he was actually going to do it once," he said. "Would it be going too far if I groped you?"

"Yes, don't even think about it."

"Okay, sorry."

"Do you think he'll forgive us when he finds out it was a joke?" Adriana asked.

"Oh, I hope so," Ianto chuckled pretending to kiss her neck.

Ianto's phone rang. He looked at the screen. "It's Jack, what do I say?"

"Answer it and act normal and as if you don't know he can see us. I have a plan," Adriana giggled excitedly.

This is what happens when Torchwood takes away all free time. The team forgets how to have fun and acts like teenagers.

Ianto answered the phone. He cleared his throat and said "Hello, Jack . . . . Nah, the movie sucked . . . . We're getting ice cream . . . . Sure, we can come back to headquarters." Adriana moved closer to Ianto and loosened his tie. "Uh, s-sure. Yeah, no problem," he said, sounding distracted. Adriana kissed his jaw line, making sure the noise was audible but not overly obvious. Ianto took a deep breath and let it out. "No, no I heard you . . . . Everything's fine . . . . What's what noise? . . . Oh, that's, uh, that's, um I have to go!" he said and hung up.

"He wants us to go back to headquarters. Probably to lock us in separate cells and slowly decrease the oxygen levels," Ianto chuckled, putting his phone away.

"Then let's go," Adriana said, jumping up and offering an outstretched hand to Ianto. He took it and they walked back to Adriana's car.

When they reached headquarters, Jack was standing just inside the door looking so angry that for a second Adriana believed she actually made out with Ianto and didn't just fake it.

"It was a joke, we knew you could see us," Ianto said calmly with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't believe you," Jack said in clipped tones.

"Oh, please Jack. Didn't you notice that we only started flirting when you told me to stop as if you'd _seen_ me do it already? I hadn't, but in your jealous eyes I had. Ianto looked around after I got that text and saw the security camera. Your CCTV spying is rude. And perverted," Adriana said exasperatedly.

Jack swiftly turned around and went over to a computer station and turned one of the monitors towards Adriana and Ianto. It showed them on the screen flirting intimately. Adriana was impressed with their work.

"Hey, we look hot," she said to Ianto.

He smirked. "We are quite convincing."

"We promise it was a joke," Adriana said, looking at Jack.

"Alright, you can go home," Jack said and went back to his office.

Adriana nudged Ianto. "Go up there and make it up to him," she said suggestively.

"See you tomorrow!" he said and jogged up the stairs.

Adriana smiled and made a very quick beeline to the door. On the way home she realized something. Something terrible. She realized that she fancied Ianto. Cursing to herself left and right, she realized that she hadn't stopped smiling since their prank. Once back in her flat she continued to swear loudly and kick at her furniture. She couldn't like Ianto! No way! Especially because of what he was doing at that very moment! She tried not to think about it, but then she figured if she did think about it it would erase any romantic feelings she had towards Ianto. She thought about Ianto and Jack for a whole thirty seconds before she realized it was a little bit sexy and she felt dirty.

Swearing at herself some more, she got a drink from the kitchen and texted Gwen: "Is it safe to call you right now?" but Gwen's reply was a phone call and not another text.

"You fell for Ianto," Gwen said rather than asked.

"What? How?" Adriana asked with her mouth gaping open.

"I guessed it before you two even left. Actually I guessed it when you both were the only one's laughing at each other's jokes," Gwen explained.

"You laugh at my jokes," Adriana said with the smallest of pouts.

"I laugh to make you feel better, but Ianto actually thinks you're funny," Gwen giggled.

"So you think he likes me ba- NO! That's not the right question! The correct question is: what should I do, Gwen?" Adriana wailed and flopped onto her couch.

"First, tell me about the evening and we'll go from there," Gwen said.

Adriana told Gwen about the entire night with as much detail about the important stuff as she could. She felt like a teenager again. Gwen laughed at the prank and Adriana asked "Are you laughing because you think it's funny or because you want to make me feel better?"

"No, it's actually funny," Gwen said honestly. "I would have loved to see Jack's face!"

"It was scary," Adriana promised.

"Right now I think the decision rests with him only because he's with Jack. We have to think of it from his point of view. If you two were together he'd have to worry about you much more than he has to worry about Jack and he has to see Jack every day at work after the break up," Gwen said reasonably.

"That's true," Adriana agreed. "Well, I guess I can deal with not having to make the decision. Thanks, Gwen! Tell Rhys I said hi."

"Will do, and no problem. I'm always here for you. See you tomorrow!"

Adriana hung up the phone and went to bed feeling only a little bit better about the situation.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Adriana woke up early one August Thursday morning to see that it was snowing. She gasped when she looked out the window. It must have just started to snow because some of the people from her building were walking out onto the street in their pajamas looking up at the sky. She got out of bed and practically jumped back in it when her bare feet hit the cold hardwood floor. She quickly put on some socks and a sweater and turned on the heater.

Then there was the buzzing sound that she was expecting. Her phone was slowly making its way across her nightstand. She started a habit of putting it on vibrate during the night because she hated night missions. The last two times it happened Jack showed up at her flat (he somehow got a key made . . .) but it gave her an extra half hour of precious Torchwood-less sleep.

She answered the phone. "What the hell is going on, Jack?"

"I don't know yet. There was a huge rift activity last night and then a gradual temperature drop. I haven't gotten any calls from police yet or seen anything, but it's still early," he said agitatedly.

"I'll be there soon," Adriana said and hung up.

Rushing around her flat she got dressed in a sweater and jeans, converse, legwarmers, gloves, a scarf, and she dug her winter coat out of her closet. She also had a bad habit of doing her make-up for work. She quickly swiped on some liquid eyeliner on her top lids, mascara, and some purple eye shadow to compliment her green eyes. She didn't have time to do her hair so up in a bun it went. Adriana made it to headquarters in twenty minutes after she got off the phone with Jack. Ianto and Gwen had just arrived when she had. They were in the boardroom and Jack was giving them the information that he had.

"It's bloody freezing out there," Gwen said, holding a hot cup of coffee in both hands.

"Yes, it is and it's getting five degrees colder every hour. It is now nine am and it is forty degrees Fahrenheit. It started at about three a.m. this morning and by midnight tonight we'll be in dangerous cold weather. Just after I called the three of you I did a scan to see where the cold was originating from. It seems that something came through the rift not far from here. There have been no reports besides extreme cold weather and winds that blew out the electricity from that part of town," Jack explained.

"Maybe Antarctica came through the rift," Ianto said and sipped his coffee.

"Antarctica from the Ice Age," Adriana added.

"Can we build an Igloo?" Ianto asked.

"Only if necessary," Jack said before continuing. "What you said about Antarctica may be true, but it also may just be strange weather patterns. Just let me know if you see any penguins."

"How cold is it at the point of origination?" Gwen asked.

"About negative sixty degrees and holding. I think that's the goal temperature for the surrounding area," Jack said.

"I hate cold," Gwen shivered.

"Then I won't send you to investigate, you can stay here and monitor temperatures and Ianto and Adriana's life signs," Jack instructed.

"Why, is my heart not beating?" Adriana asked, holding out her wrist to Ianto.

He felt for a pulse. "No, you're alive."

"I'm sending you two out there," Jack said, looking at them pointedly.

"Where will you be?" Ianto asked.

"With you two," he said.

"Okay, let's get going I don't want to be responsible for the freezing of some old woman's dog," Adriana said and got out of her chair.

Adriana, Ianto, and Jack went into one of the storage rooms and found thin looking snow suits. Jack explained that they were made of a material that allows very little cold through unless ripped. And it was easily ripped. Jack left to talk to Gwen and Ianto and Adriana began to put on their show suits. She tried not to pay attention or notice but they had to get down to their underwear before putting the suit on. They held a steady conversation throughout as if it wasn't weird at all. When the suits were on they looked at each other and laughed.

"I feel like we should be in _Cats_," Adriana giggled.

Jack chose that moment to walk in. "I knew I always had a thing for tight, form fitting fabrics."

Adriana rolled her eyes and put her clothes on over the suit. That's when she noticed that Ianto was putting on jeans and not his usual suit pants. "What's with the jeans?"

"I didn't want to ruin my good pants in the snow," he said simply as he did his belt. He was also putting on a navy blue cashmere sweater instead of a collared shirt.

"We're going to look for anything that could be causing the coldness. But if we don't find anything, we have to figure out how to control Mother Nature," Jack said, beginning to put on his own snow suit.

Adriana and Ianto didn't respond because they were putting scarves around their faces but leaving room for their eyes. Jack handed them both ski glasses to keep the cold air from their eyes. When completely bundled up, they each were wearing their snow suits, their own clothes, gloves and socks made out of the snow suit material, hats, scarves, ski glasses, their own gloves, winter coats, a gun, their Bluetooth devices, a stun gun, a high tech thermometer, a flashlight, a life sign monitor, and a rift energy detector.

Once at the edge of the coldest region, they got out of the SUV. It was eerily silent and bitterly cold even through all their layers. "You guys go towards the center; I'm going to check the houses around here to see if there are any people still alive," Jack instructed. His voice was muffled by his scarf so it was hard to understand him.

Ianto and Adriana headed towards the center of the coldness where they couldn't get a read on how cold it was in that small radius. Adriana held the temperature reading device and followed the dropping numbers to a large building. It looked to be a school building through the heavy snow and blinding wind. Adriana held onto Ianto's arm as they struggled to get to the door. It got worse the closer they were to the school. Once inside it was so cold it was almost impossible to breathe.

"Oh, god, I can't breathe," Ianto gasped.

"Ianto, you're heart rate is raising but your breathing rate has slowed, is everything alright?" Gwen said over the com.

"Ianto, stop thinking about it, you're going to panic and then really not be able to breathe. Stop moving," Adriana instructed calmly, holding his hands at his sides. "Take slow breaths to calm down. If your heart rate slows, so will your breathing rate."

"I'm fine, Gwen," Ianto said when Adriana released his hands. "The air seems thinner here and I panicked."

"Be careful," Gwen said sternly. She hated being left behind on missions but they needed her to monitor their life signs and the incoming calls from the police.

"Okay, let's go," Ianto said to Adriana. He walked ahead a few feet with the rift activity monitor and followed the readings to what looked to be the doors to the school gym. He peeked into the window. "We found the source," he said frantically over the coms.

"Where are you?" Jack demanded.

"The school at the center of the cold," Ianto replied.

Adriana strained to see into the window and when she did she regretted it. There were about fifteen aliens that looked like grizzly bears with long snouts and scaly paws. There were a few eggs in the middle of the gym and the rest were scattered around them. Ianto explained the aliens to Gwen and Jack quietly. Adriana went to look again to see if they had claws but when she looked she saw a bunch stalking towards the door with their snouts in the air.

"Ianto, run!" she whispered hysterically.

He didn't ask questions, he just grabbed Adriana's hand and they ran for it. There was a slam as the gym doors swung open and the creatures came bounding down the hallway after them. Adriana screamed when she looked back and saw the aliens gaining on them. She started to slip on a patch of ice but caught herself by slamming her hand against a huge icicle that hung from the ceiling. The ice was jagged and it cut through both gloves. This wasn't Earth ice; this was ice from another universe. It made Adriana's hand completely numb and cold. It was painful and felt as if it were frozen. She hardly had time to register the pain before Ianto tugged her through a door made of steel. He slammed it shut after them and slid the locks into place.

"Ianto!" Adriana sobbed in pain.

"What? Did one get to you?" he asked, panicked.

"No, I touched the ice and uhhh," she groaned as he took the gloves on her right hand.

They were at the top landing of a flight of stairs leading to the basement of the school. Ianto quickly turned on his flashlight and looked down the stairs to make sure there were no aliens. Adriana and Ianto went to the basement, keeping an eye on the strong door. The aliens were scratching and slamming into it.

"Jack, Gwen, we're stuck in the basement of the school and Adriana is hurt," he said over the com but the reply was only static. "Damn it!" He took a deep breath. "Okay, let me see your hand."

Adriana held out her throbbing and partially frozen hand. He took off his own gloves and rubbed her had between his. It didn't work; it only made her hand hurt more. She put her hand in her shirt to use some of her body heat but the snow suit let no heat out. She gained control over her tears and wiped the frozen beads of water away. The temperature was negative eighty degrees and everything was freezing. Ianto found a moment's amusement by spitting into the air and watching it fall to the ground frozen.

They stayed close and Adriana rested her head on Ianto's shoulder. The thin air was making them tired but the scraping and slamming of the aliens outside the door kept them awake. They were sure they were going to die there.

"I'm glad I'm not dying alone. That has always been one of my biggest fears," Adriana admitted.

"Don't say that. We're not dying," Ianto said unconvincingly. He was hardly able to breathe as the temperature began to drop more and his breaths were short and struggling. Adriana's lungs were smaller so she needed less air but she too was having trouble albeit less.

"Ianto, we're dying," Adriana said in a defeated voice. He pulled her closer and rested his head on hers and held her injured hand in both of his. She heard his life monitor begin to beep minutes later. She looked up to see that he had passed out from lack of oxygen. "Ianto!" she said and tapped the side of his face. When he didn't respond she lied him down and began to scream for him, but his life monitor only beeped faster. She moved their scarves away from their faces and she tried to give Ianto CPR, but she didn't have enough oxygen in her lungs to do any good and her lips froze somewhat to his. Her tears froze after they fell from her modified ski glasses and landed on his face. She brushed away the droplets and rested her face against his, trying to put warmth back into his body.

Adriana screamed into her com: "Ianto's dying, we need help! Please somebody hear me!" A hand gripped hers ever so slightly. "Ianto, oh god, you can hear me! Hold on, love. You're going to be ok." She stroked the side of his face with her hand before covering his face with his scarf again. She lied down next to him. "It's okay, just stay with me, Ianto. Breathe slowly, don't leave me."

What seemed like hours later, gun shots were heard overhead. Hundreds of bullets must have been fired before there was silence. "Do you hear that Ianto? I think Jack is here, we're safe now, love," Adriana said to Ianto. Another small squeeze to her hand. There was a loud knocking at the steel door. Adriana remembered the locks. "I'm getting up only to let Jack in, I'll be right back," she said, kissed Ianto on the forehead through their scarves and got up. She ran up the stairs and opened the door.

Jack and Gwen rushed in holding guns and oxygen tanks. Jack ran immediately to Ianto whose life monitor was beeping at a rapid pace. Jack ripped off Ianto's scarf and put the oxygen mask over Ianto's nose and mouth. Jack had to turn up the intensity of the oxygen tank and pump Ianto's chest before he took a breath. Gwen had handed Adriana a mask but Adriana wouldn't take it. She knelt beside Ianto and held the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. After three minutes of breathing the new oxygen, he opened his eyes.

Jack, Adriana, and Gwen sighed in relief. Ianto reached for Adriana's uninjured hand and squeezed it much harder than he had before. She bent down and kissed his forehead again. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright," she said.

"All thanks to you," Ianto said hoarsely. "I clung onto your voice. If you didn't talk to me the whole time I would have stayed in the dark."

Adriana rested her head against his and sobbed even thought the cold air hurt and her tears froze. She accepted the oxygen mask from Gwen before they started for the steel door. Upstairs and outside the temperature was quickly rising. Jack and Gwen had killed all of the aliens including the eggs so the weather was no longer being controlled by aliens; Mother Nature had the reigns now. The air was breathable but Jack insisted Ianto kept the oxygen mask on, his brain was starved for it.

Jack treated Adriana's hand and she was almost completely healed by the time they got back to headquarters. Gwen ordered some take-out and Jack checked the news. "How are you going to cover this one up, Adriana?" Jack asked, amused.

"Global Warming, stop driving your damn cars," she said.

"You know, I think that just might do it. Everyone's already either completely skeptical or they believe every word of it. So it works out that everyone will stop hurting the environment when word of this gets out," Jack said sitting down next to Ianto and wrapping his arms around him.

"You know, Jack, Adriana is the hero of the day," Ianto said.

"I know." Jack nodded.

"I think she should get a day off for it," Ianto continued.

"Oh, I agree with Ianto," Adriana said excitedly.

"Alright, you get tomorrow off. Spend it wisely," Jack agreed.

"And I almost died, so I should get the day off, as well," Ianto added.

"Fine," Jack smiled.

"And Gwen," Gwen added as she hung up the phone.

"Of course," Jack laughed.

"And you, too." Ianto looked up at Jack.

Jack bent his head down and kissed Ianto. But Ianto was looking at Adriana.


	6. Chapter 6

something happened and switched chapters 6,7, and i think 8 with another story. which is totally weird because the other story has chapter names and not "Chapter 6" Strange. sorry for any inconvenience or confusion!

Crackfic warning! Well, it's not really a crack fic because they behave this way for a reason . . . . oh, you'll see!

**Chapter 6**

It was an average Friday morning at Torchwood headquarters. Gwen had brought doughnuts to work and Ianto made coffee. Adriana arrived her usual fifteen minutes late and ate the chocolate doughnut that Jack had been eyeing. They did the normal morning scans for rift activity and unusual news reports. Adriana surfed the internet and checked her email while Gwen and Ianto did their work. She wished she had something to do instead of just sitting there in the mornings. Adriana had finished her second cup of coffee when Jack called the team upstairs because a shift in rift activity and energy had just occurred. Ianto was closest to Jack's office so he arrived first, but Gwen and Adriana were walking side by side until Adriana accidentally bumped into Gwen.

"Watch where you're going!" Gwen snapped.

"I wouldn't have to if you weren't in my way!" Adriana shot back.

"Speaking of in the way, you mess everything up!" Gwen yelled.

"I'm only trying to be useful and make friends with you lot, but NO! You can't go out for a drink with us, because you've got to go home and be with _Rhys_! How can we all work together if we can't even stand to be around each other?" Adriana screamed.

"Oh!" Gwen growled and grabbed Adriana's hair.

It was a tangle of arms and hair and curses until Jack and Ianto finally stopped gawking at the girls and jumped in. Ianto pulled Adriana away from Gwen and Jack held Gwen back. Both men were looking at each other with what-the-fuck expressions.

"What's going on?" Jack demanded the girls.

"She's a BITCH!" Gwen screamed pointing at Adriana.

"We'll you're a WHORE!" Adriana spat back.

Both girls started yelling at the same time until they were dragged into separate rooms. Ianto pulled Adriana by the arm to the autopsy area. He shoved her into a chair and stood in front of her with his hands on his hips looking very much like an angry father.

"What the hell is going on?" he ordered.

Adriana looked up at him, confused. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I can't believe I said those things! Oh, my gosh!"

"I think you need to go apologiiiiiiiiiize!!!" Ianto ended his sentence singing. "Gooooo sayyyy you're sorryyyy!!! And everything will be okayyyyy!!!!"

Adriana slowly edged her way out of the autopsy room as Ianto skipped and danced along behind her, singing. There was a rapid beeping sound coming from Jack's office. She ran to investigate. In Jack's office, Gwen was rapidly shoving doughnuts in her mouth and Jack was sobbing at his desk where there was a spilled coffee cup.

"What?" Adriana gasped, staring at her hysterically crying boss and ravenous friend.

"The sky is bluuuuueeee and so is Jack's moooooood!!!!" sang Ianto in a slightly operatic tone.

"Gwen slow down, you're going to get sick," Adriana said, and began to pull the doughnut box away from her but Gwen growled like a hungry dog and ripped the box out of Adriana's hands.

Adriana turned to see Ianto dancing in circles around Jack and the desk, singing about how the tears on Jack's face were like raindrops on buttercups. "What's wrong Jack?" she was almost afraid to ask.

"I- I- spilled, my COFFEE," he sobbed, bringing his knees up onto his chair and resting his head on them.

Suddenly Jack terrified Adriana and she quickly ran backwards from him. She hit the edge of Gwen's chair and almost fell into the box of mostly eaten doughnuts. Gwen snarled at her and she screamed in terror. Ianto pranced over to see what the matter was and began to sing about the shrieks of happy school girls on the playground. His dancing footsteps were loud and erratic, startling and scaring Adriana more. She curled up in the corner and screamed.

Then . . . everyone stopped. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

"What- what the hell was that?" Gwen asked, after swallowing the last mouthful of doughnut.

"I don't know. The rift energy was extremely high in headquarters but I didn't _see_ anything, did you?" Jack asked them while consulting the monitors.

"No," Ianto said and cleared his throat and straightened his tie.

Adriana slowly uncurled herself out of a ball and stood up. Gwen threw the mostly devoured box of doughnuts in the trash and held her stomach.

"Do you think it was past or future emotions? Or an alien?" Adriana asked Jack.

"I don't know because I've never cried like that before," he assured them in a deep voice. "My best guess would be alien."

"Actually, I've never been that hungry before," Gwen admitted.

"And I've never, _never_ been that happy," Ianto said with wide eyes and shook his head.

"I've been that scared," Adriana confessed quietly.

"But is that a coincidence or is it past and future emotions coming through the rift?" Ianto asked rhetorically.

"Ianto, go through the archives, Adriana you can help, and look for any past occurrences of anything similar," Jack instructed. "Gwen, you can clean up the doughnut that fell out of your mouth."

Down in the archives it was dark and dank, like a basement. She and Ianto silently went through file after file of Torchwood records starting at the beginning. It was a calming thing- going through old files. Many were photographs and personal files. Adriana felt like she was going through her grandma's attic. Except Grandma didn't have gruesome photographs of murder scenes and descriptions of aliens and weapons in her attic. Except for the occasional sneeze from the dust and the giggle over old photographs, they were silent.

Adriana pulled out a file from the late eighteen hundreds, there was a photograph inside. She looked at all the faces until she recognized one. "Jack!" she exclaimed.

Ianto jumped at the sudden sound of her voice. He went to stand next to her and looked at the photograph. "He had some sexy side-burns," Ianto scoffed.

"Wow, I knew he was old and all with not being able to die, but it never seemed real until seeing this. Not even when he got shot in the chest by that guy last month," Adriana said.

"It takes some getting used to," Ianto admitted.

They were silent again as Adriana flipped through a few more photos. The atmosphere changed and the close proximity became tense and intimate. Adriana looked up to see Ianto watching her intensely. Their breath mingled in the dank basement and their eyes locked. With a surge of energy their lips collided. It was a fierce, urgent, and lustful kiss. It didn't stop there; clothes were practically ripped off of each other's bodies and hands and lips roamed. Adriana was picked up, spun around, and dropped onto a waist high filing cabinet.

"This isn't real," Adriana whispered breathlessly.

"I don't care," Ianto said and kissed her again. Their eyes were dark with desire and their hearts beating almost audibly in their chests. They struggled against each other for control and release.

What they weren't aware of were the readings of rift energy that were spiking in Jack's office. He knew it was Ianto and Adriana because he and Gwen were unaffected so he rushed to the basement with Gwen. Gwen had gone down first and when she peeked into the door of the archives she gasped quietly. She turned to Jack and said "There's nothing to worry about, nothing going on."

But a cry of pleasure and a moan gave it away. Jack glanced into the room and then leaned against the wall outside the door.

"Come on, Jack, let's go upstairs and continue our research. You know they don't mean it," Gwen said softly, resting a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded and followed her up the stairs, fighting back the urge to go in and stop them. He knew it was the alien or rift but he still didn't like it. He knew that even he could not resist the rift's energy so he really couldn't blame them, but it still broke his heart.

Slowly, Adriana and Ianto realized what had happened. Regaining their composure, they didn't look at each other as they put their clothes back on. Adriana turned to him. "Ianto . . ." she said her voice choked with oncoming tears of guilt.

He looked up at her, his face drawn down into a frown. "I know," he said quietly.

"I- I-" she searched for words.

"It's okay," he said reaching to stroke her hair but pulling back.

"Let's not think about this ever again," she said.

"Agreed."

"And let's not let it change anything."

"Definitely. We need to get back, we didn't find anything."

"Yeah," she sighed looking around at the stuff they went through.

Upstairs Gwen warned Adriana and Ianto that she and Jack knew what had happened. "Jack's hurt, but he knows it wasn't your own free will," she insisted when Adriana started toward Jack's office.

She burst in the door. "Jack!" she said as if she were about to tell him everything. But he only looked blankly at her and she broke down. "Jack, I'm so- I'm so sorry," she cried and went over to his chair.

He looked for a moment like he wasn't going to forgive her but he overcame it. "It's okay, I know what happened," he said standing up. He hugged her to show her that he wasn't angry with her. "I'm not upset, Adriana, don't worry."

She still cried.

"Are you okay? I mean, I'm not much good with girl stuff, but do you need to talk to Gwen?" he asked.

Adriana smiled at his effort. "No, Jack, I just feel . . . gross. No offense to Ianto," she explained.

"Better not be meant to offend. He's great in bed," Jack said, trying to lighten her mood.

She groaned and gripped her head. "I don't want to think about that!" she exclaimed with a small smile.

"Admit it," he prodded.

"Fine, he's good," she said quietly.

"Just good?" Jack laughed.

"Jack! Now is not the best time. We can joke in a few months time when I know I'm not pregnant," Adriana said the last part in a mumble, hoping Jack wouldn't catch it.

His laughter died completely. "Pregnant?"

"Oh, it's possible, Jack," Adriana laughed humorlessly.

"Shit," he said looking out the window to where Ianto was doing some more readings.

"Tell me about it," Adriana mumbled.

"You have to keep me updated," he said.

"I'll make sure I bake a cake with the writing 'I'm _not_ having a baby' written in red frosting," Adriana joked.

"I like cake," Jack informed Adriana.

"Jack?" Gwen called from her station. He and Adriana and Ianto rushed to her desk. "Look at this; an energy eating alien has been changing our emotions. I took a sample of the air from the archive and analyzed it. There is a microscopic alien in the air. It hasn't left headquarters because we haven't opened the doors and we have no windows. It feeds off emotions, and it can control them. I think that if we add electric energy to the alien energy, we can contain the alien. Maybe confuse it or stun it"

"Good thinking, Gwen," Jack said.

"Thanks, but we need to contain the alien in one place," she said. "I can go somewhere on my own in a room where we can pump some static electricity."

"I'll go with you," Adriana said. "It might come to us and get a two for one deal. So, Ianto and Jack split up."

"Excuse me, I'm the boss," Jack said.

"I know but we had the good ideas," Gwen retorted.

Twenty minutes later Gwen and Adriana were in the supply room after Jack and Ianto hooked up enough electricity to be put into the room. They rummaged around in a few bins before they both began to feel extremely anxious and nervous. Adriana was biting her nails and Gwen was fiddling with the hem of her shirt and they both were mumbling to themselves. When Jack realized that they had been affected by the alien, he turned on the electricity. Adriana and Gwen's hair began to stand on end from the static electricity. They looked at each other and laughed nervously. Then, there was nothing. Gwen and Adriana felt normal again and Jack turned off the electricity.

Ianto informed them over the coms that there had been a complete disappearance of the rift energy. The alien must have died and disintegrated because it was no longer in the air either. The team was free of the emotion changing alien but they were stuck with the real emotional consequences and relationship strains.

There was a silence as they returned to their desks. It was a very awkward silence that made Adriana begin to giggle nervously. Gwen caught the laughter, then Ianto, and then Jack. The laughter broke the silence and mended their comfort for the moment until more time was given to reflect on the day.

"And to think that something so microscopic could affect us so much," Gwen commented.

"Size doesn't matter, Gwen." Adriana laughed.

"Unless you're Jack," Ianto said with mock scorn.

Jack raised his eyebrows suggestively at Ianto.

"On a more serious note," Adriana said. "What are we going to do now? Do we have to clean the air? Make sure nothing got out somehow?"

"This alien wasn't exactly dangerous. Just extremely annoying," Jack said. "So I don't think looking for any trace of it or any others outside of the hub is very important right now. Gwen, can you run some more tests on the air in here, though?"

"Sure," she said and turned to her computer.

"Adriana," Jack said and looked at her pointedly.

She got the hint and gestured for Ianto to follow her to the autopsy room. Before he could say anything she spun towards him, a frown pasted to her features. "Ianto we have a possible problem. It's way too soon to tell but it's practically all I can think about. I don't want you to get mad at me, and I'm not mad at you. We couldn't control the alien's influence. But it really happened and there's something that happens when . . . _that_ happens and I just wanted you to know-"

"It's possibly you may become pregnant. And we're pretty sure I would be the father," he said with a nod.

"Yeah," Adriana said with a rush of air. "How'd you know that?"

"Health classes in school," he looked at her like she was stupid.

"No, I meant, how'd you know that it was what I was talking about?"

"Common sense, Adriana," he chuckled and turned to leave the autopsy room but stopped before he got to the stairs. "Is that really all you can think about? You're not thinking about what happened?"

"Well, I am, but I know that it wasn't free will. It's not like we could have controlled any of it, so I don't think there's much to think about." Adriana shrugged.

"Oh, yeah," he said, not sounding very earnest. "I'll see you Monday."

"What, we're not going on our normal Friday outings?" Adriana asked, slightly crestfallen. She had been looking forward to unwinding after her long day.

"You- you still want to?" he asked, not quite looking at Adriana.

"Of course, you idiot!" she exclaimed and led the way back into the main room of the hub.

Gwen had left already and Jack was no where to be seen, leaving just Ianto and Adriana to go out. They grabbed their things and made their way out of the gear shaped door, not feeling the eyes burning holes of jealousy in the backs of their heads.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It was four in the morning when Adriana's phone rang. She woke up and looked at her alarm clock and groaned. She was still groaning when she answered the phone. "Nooooo," she groaned into the phone.

"Yes," Jack said.

"No," Adriana countered.

"Yes," Jack insisted.

"No!" Adriana hung up the phone. It rang again. "What do you want?"

"For you to come in to work. Now. It's an emergency," Jack said sounding anxious.

"Fine. I'll be there in a bit," she said and hung up again.

She was brushing her teeth when her phone rang again. The caller ID said 'Ianto.'

"Good morning, sunshine," she said brightly and sarcastically.

"No. Not a good morning. My car wont start," he said.

"I'll swing by and pick you up on my way," she said and spit out a mouthful of toothpaste.

"That was absolutely disgusting," Ianto said.

"Whatever. Do us a huge favor and make me a big, strong coffee. I forgot to do the shopping," she requested.

"Sure thing," he said.

When Adriana arrived at Ianto's flat he was waiting with two large coffees in thermoses. He climbed into the passenger seat and handed her one.

"You were the sexiest person alive standing there with that coffee," she said and took a large sip.

"Well, you know," he said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and backed out of the parking spot. He slept during the short ride to work, his head banging every so often against the window. Adriana made sure to hit the brakes extra hard as she pulled up to the curb so that he was practically thrown into the dashboard if his seatbelt hadn't held him back. She smirked as he rubbed his eyes and then undid his seatbelt. "We're here," she said as she got out of the car.

"What is so important you had to call us in at bloody four in the morning _again_?" Adriana snapped at Jack as he met her and Ianto at the door.

"I found something," he said seriously.

"Obviously it wasn't your decency to call at a reasonable hour," Adriana ranted. Ianto stifled a laugh.

"No, it's a box," Jack said, throwing her a Look.

"If it contains a-"

"Adriana, please," Jack said, sounding completely stressed before the day even began.

"Sorry, I'm just not a morning person," Adriana said quietly.

"So we've noticed. Just drink your coffee, shut up, and listen," Jack said to her as Gwen rushed in the door.

He held up a relatively large wooden box. It had strange writing carved into it and pictures like hieroglyphics. They seemed to be depicting people running in fear, one drowning, one watching another person being stabbed, and various other gruesome situations. "What is that?" Gwen asked.

"A box," Jack replied.

"Oh, I see it now. Yes, it is a box," Ianto said sarcastically, pretending to squint at it and decipher what it was. Adriana grinned at him.

"What's in the box, Jack?" Gwen asked, already completely absorbed by the mystery of the looming mission.

"I don't know, but this is ancient Egyptian writing. It won't take long to run it through a language scan to see what it says before we open it," Jack said excitedly.

"Red flags if it mentions anyone by the name 'Pandora,'" Adriana said.

"That's Greek mythology, no?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, well people talk. Even back then." Adriana shrugged.

"What do we do until then?" Ianto asked.

"Your normal morning routine," Jack said simply. "I'll call you when I'm finished."

"Oh, good god," Adriana said and stomped over to the couch and throwing her self onto it. She covered her head and closed her eyes.

Adriana napped while Gwen and Ianto slowly and disinterestedly did their morning work. Jack finished the scans relatively quickly seeing as how the hieroglyphics were Egyptian and therefore an Earth language. Once they were called to the boardroom, they found Jack sitting in his chair, staring at the box with a furrowed brow.

"So, what is it?" Gwen asked as they sat down.

Jack turned to the screen and pressed a button on a remote. A display of the hieroglyphs and their translations were shown. He read out loud to them: "The source of fear is mighty and powerful. Though, it is contained through magic. One will experience the wrath and power of ultimate fear if it is unleashed."

"Magic?" Adriana asked slowly.

"What, you can believe in aliens but not magic?" Ianto teased.

"Let me see it, then. I'll believe it when I see it," Adriana said to Jack.

"For all we know it could be a mummified skull of the town witch," Jack said, his hand resting on the top of the box.

"Or jewels said to bring bad luck," Gwen added.

"Or scary Egyptian stories," Adriana said.

"Or a Pokémon card," Ianto joked.

"Maybe it's a ruse to make anyone who finds it too afraid to open it. Maybe it holds the secret to how they built the pyramids," Jack said, his hands moving to the lid of the box.

"Okay, open it already!" Gwen exclaimed excitedly.

Jack lifted off the lid with some difficulty. Dust and sand fell away as the lid came off but nothing else came out. They looked in and saw nothing; the box appeared to be empty. Adriana was about to say something about it being anticlimactic when she was no longer in the boardroom. She looked around and realized she was in the hub near the lift entrance. Jack was next to her and Gwen was just behind her. But Ianto was further ahead. Everything felt foggy, like a dream but she knew it was real. There was a metallic clanging sound rhythmically coming closer. A robot girl came around the corner. She looked to be half woman and half robot and one hundred percent angry. Her eyes were locked on Ianto who was backing up slowly, moving closer to Jack, Gwen, and Adriana.

Adriana heard Jack swear under his breath and Gwen ask him "What is this? Why is she back?"

"What's going on?" Adriana asked, noticing the panic in her coworkers.

"It's Lisa," Jack said as he looked around frantically. "Cyberwoman Lisa."

"Ianto's ex-girlfriend?" Adriana asked.

"That's her," Jack said as he handed Adriana and Gwen his guns.

"Jack, what do we do?" Gwen asked, as Lisa was closing in on a terrified Ianto.

"We finish her off," he said as he ran to get another gun.

Adriana and Gwen opened fire on Lisa just as she stopped in front of a pleading Ianto. She turned to them and began in their direction. The bullets slowed her down some as they penetrated into her remaining flesh. She cried out in a strange metallic voice with each bullet. Ianto was unable to move any more than to stand up and pull out his gun.

Jack returned with a larger gun that did a little more damage than the other two guns. Ianto was only able to watch he was so frozen by fear. Lisa gained on Jack but he didn't back down or move at all. He continued to fire up until she shoved a hand into his chest and ripped out his heart. Adriana and Gwen screamed and continued to shoot. Jack's body landed on the ground hard and then vanished. Then Lisa turned to Gwen and Adriana. She approached them and they tried to run, but their feet were unable to move. Something unseen was binding them to the floor, dooming them to fates similar to Jack's. Ianto covered his eyes, feeling helpless against the deaths of his friends. He had tried to run to their aid but he too was unable to move. Now not only fear was holding him back. It was like a nightmare where the dreamer is trying to run away from or towards something but it feels like he's running through gelatin or his feet have implanted themselves into the ground. He listened to Adriana and Gwen die before there was silence.

"Ianto!" he heard Adriana's voice exclaim. There were arms around him and he uncovered his tear soaked face. He was back in the boardroom with Jack, Adriana, and Gwen. They were alive and Lisa was nowhere to be seen. Adriana was hugging him and Gwen and Jack were just behind her.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice still shaking.

"I don't know," Jack said; his face scrunched in thought. "But are you alright?"

"I'm- I'm fine, are you three alright?" he asked looking at their chests where he knew their hearts had been ripped from.

"We're fine. As soon as we were killed we came back here," Gwen said.

"That didn't, by chance, happen to be your biggest fear?" Jack asked.

"One of them, yes," Ianto admitted. Jack, Gwen, and Adriana sat with Ianto at the boardroom table.

"Why did it choose Ianto?" Gwen asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. It's possible that he was closest," Jack suggested.

"No, because I was closer than he was. And you were closest than any of us," Adriana countered.

"Maybe it went for the most attractive," Ianto proposed quietly.

"Nah, I'm in the room." Jack shook his head but smiled at Ianto.

"What singles him out from the rest of us?" Adriana asked.

"He's the only one of us to have loved a woman," Gwen said, looking at Jack questioningly.

"No," Jack and Adriana said at the same time.

Everyone looked at Adriana. "What?" she asked. Their questioning stares didn't falter. "I like girls as well as blokes." She shrugged.

"I never knew," Ianto said looking at her like he'd never seen her before.

"What's it matter? I'm not fucking you," she said and looked back up at Jack. "You've loved a woman before?"

"A couple," he said enigmatically.

"Okay, so that can be crossed off the list," Gwen said and cleared her throat. She opened her mouth to say something but gasped and stopped. "Oh! I think I know! Adriana and I went out for drinks the other night and we were talking about boyfriends we've had and she told me her biggest fear was something her most recent ex said to her. And then I told her my biggest fear. Maybe it went for the person who has not revealed what he fears most!"

"Good thinking, Gwen. But I've never told any of you my greatest fear," Jack said.

Gwen and Adriana looked at each other with wide, shocked eyes. "Then what we guessed was right," Adriana said to Gwen.

"What did you guess? It's not obvious, is it? That's not fair!" Jack complained.

"We guessed it was loosing more of your team," Gwen said, looking Jack in the eye.

"How'd you figure that out?" he asked.

"We thought on it for awhile," Gwen replied.

"You don't happen to also be afraid of green vegetables, do you?" Adriana asked, seriously.

"No, why?" he asked slowly.

"We decided that they were your second biggest fear," Adriana said.

"No, definitely not," Jack chuckled.

"Do you think-" Ianto started to say but before he could finish they were somewhere else.

They knew instantly that we were living out Gwen's biggest fear because they were in her flat. But something was terribly wrong. Blood was smeared across the walls with scattered handprints. Some of the many pictures were broken on the ground. The computer had been shoved off the desk and was sparking on the floor. A bloodied hand was viewable from behind the counter in the kitchen.

Adriana ran to catch up with Gwen, knowing exactly who it was. She held Gwen's hand as Gwen insisted she go see to confirm her greatest fear. The sight was gruesome. They could hardly make out Rhys' features through the disfigurement of his face and all the blood. Adriana had to look away and fight a gag at the terrible sight. Gwen was screaming and tore her hand away from Adriana's. She dropped down next to Rhys and sobbed. Once they saw Gwen and Adriana's reactions, Jack and Ianto came to their sides. Jack pulled Gwen away from Rhys' body and turned her to face him.

"This is not real," he said sternly. "This is only your fear. Your fear is what is driving these hallucinations."

It took a few moments for Gwen to calm down and for them to be back in the boardroom.

"How do we stop this, Jack?" Adriana asked, knowing her fear had to be coming soon.

He put the lid back on the box.

"I don't think that will do anything. The writing said it was concealed by magic," Gwen said.

"Anyone have a wand?" Ianto asked sarcastically.

"Anyone have a spell book?" Jack asked seriously.

Adriana slowly looked up from the box to Jack. "Yes," she said hoarsely.

"I thought you said you didn't believe in magic! But here you are: the owner of a spell book!" Ianto exclaimed.

"Shut up. I was once really into magic and the like, but my ex made me stop. It made him think that I was more powerful than he was," Adriana said.

"Can you go get it?" Jack asked.

"I don't want to leave you guys. What if it chooses my fear next and I have to do it alone?" Adriana panicked.

"Then, we'll go with you," Jack said, solving the issue.

The four of them took the SUV to Adriana's apartment and helped her go through her things looking for the spell book. She had boxes of books in a wardrobe and trunks of clothes, photo albums, and various other things scattered throughout her flat.

They were all in her living room one second then in complete darkness the next. At least it appeared to be complete darkness at first but once their eyes adjusted they found that they were suspended over what looked like an ocean. It was night time and nothing could be seen around them. They were completely alone. Adriana especially because she was unable to see the others. It was part of her fear, to be alone and lost. She was living the nightmare that had haunted her since her ex said it. He told her she would be alone for the rest of her life if she left him.

"Adriana, it's not real, remember?" Jack called to her.

She didn't respond. She only cried to herself and called for help from the others. None of them could move through the air. They were able to move in place but not forward or backward. They called to her but she didn't hear or see them.

"Okay, okay. Calm down," Adriana told herself. "Breathe. Okay this is only my fear, it's not real," she said, and tried to calm her racing heart. She closed her eyes and took deep, slow breaths and envisioned herself back in her flat with the others. She became aware of the ground beneath her and the sound of cars in the distance. When she opened her eyes she was back in her flat.

"What was that?" Jack asked her.

"I was completely and totally alone," Adriana replied and wiped the tears from her face.

"We were trying to talk to you but you couldn't hear us," Gwen said, grabbing Adriana's hand and squeezing it.

"He told me that I would be alone for the rest of my life and that no one would ever touch me or talk to me or love me ever again," Adriana said, trying to shake off the lasting fear.

"Well, he was wrong," Jack said and handed her the spell book they'd been looking for. It had been shoved at the bottom of a trunk that was filled with pictures and school yearbooks.

"Alright, we need a spell to contain a- a spirit?" Adriana thought out loud. "No, no. Um, a spell to banish- no. Oh, I don't know, I haven't done this in ages." She scanned the index of the book. "Here's one: a spell to contain an evil energy."

"That sounds like it might apply," Ianto agreed.

"It says that I'll need a black candle and a white candle, and clear quartz," she read from the spell ingredient list.

Before anyone could move to gather the ingredients, they were back in the hub. Everyone but Jack was there. In fact, there were two Adrianas, two Gwens, and two Iantos. One of each was alive and standing together and the other three were lying dead, soaking in their own blood. The gear door was opening and Jack came in. He saw the three bodies on the ground and stopped. His fists clenched and his jaw tightened.

"Not real. This is not real," he said to himself. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from the bodies.

"Jack," Adriana called to him, her eyes still on her own dead body.

He looked to where the three live people were but didn't see them. Adriana called again but he didn't look a second time. He turned away from the bodies finally and braced his hands on the wall. It took him less time than the others to bring them all back to reality.

They all looked at each other silently before they all stood up at once.

"I have some birthday candles in the kitchen somewhere," Adriana said, leading the way.

"Do you mind if I grab a drink?" Jack asked, still looking pale and sweating.

"No, go ahead. Help yourselves, all of you," Adriana said and began to rummage through a drawer. She heard the pop of a cap coming off of a beer bottle. She turned to see Jack taking a long drink. She snorted in laughter "Hand me one, will you? I think our job _requires_ drinking."

Adriana found the candles and brought them into the living room. "Now I need quartz," she said and looked around.

"Will a ring work?" Gwen asked bashfully.

"I suppose, why?" Adriana asked.

"When Rhys bought my engagement ring, the guy at the shop gave him quartz instead of a diamond," she said. When the others fought back giggles she explained. "One day I was bored at work and I scanned the ring under the mineral detector. Of course, I got angry because he told me it was real. So when I went home I looked for the receipt and it says diamond."

"He got scammed," Jack said.

"Yes, but it's saving our asses now, isn't it?" Gwen said stiffly.

"It is, thank you, Gwen," Adriana said as Gwen handed her the ring.

Adriana read the instructions and had the others clear out of her circle space and placed the box in the middle. She centered herself, cast her circle, lit the candles on either side of the ring and chanted the spell. The old familiar feeling of energy pulsing though her veins lifted her spirits and she smiled as she chanted. Her eyes were closed but she felt the negative energy pulsing around her. She knew that the fear was fighting her magic but she was determined to win. She pushed harder, causing her head to ache with the effort. Screams of terror began to flow around her. There were too many to comprehend- it was the sound of fear. Feeling like she was about to pass out, she gave one final push of energy with a yell before everything was silent and peaceful. The screams and the rush of energy were gone and she opened her eyes.

Jack, Ianto and Gwen were staring at her like she'd just done something completely insane and they were kind of afraid of her. She gave a weak smile and a small giggle before she passed out. When she came to she was lying on her couch and a cold towel was on her forehead.

"She's awake," she heard Ianto say.

Adriana sat up and looked at her coworkers. "I think it worked," she said.

"You're bloody well right it worked," Gwen said.

"Awesome," Adriana said with a huge smile.

"How'd you do it?" Ianto asked.

"You saw; I followed the instructions," she said like it was obvious.

"I couldn't do something like that," he said and shook his head.

"I didn't think I could either. It took a lot out of me," Adriana said, still feeling exhausted.

"Well, it's gone. You won. We're safe," Jack said, sitting down next to Adriana.

She looked out the window at the evening sky. "Are you sure we're safe?" she asked.

"Pretty sure." He nodded

"I feel the same," Gwen said looking pointedly at Adriana. Then she looked at Jack and Ianto "Can we all stay together tonight? I mean, we all just experienced our worst fears and it's going to be hard to sleep. Especially, if we were going to be sleeping alone."

"Do you know how long I've waited for you to say that, Gwen?" Jack asked with a laugh.

"Oh, not like that, Jack!" she exclaimed but laughed with him.

"I know, and I think it would be good for us to be together," he said somewhat unbelieving.

"Slumber party!" Adriana yelled sarcastically.

They rode in the SUV to Ianto's flat, Gwen's flat, and back to Torchwood, so that they could get things they would need for the night. Gwen and Adriana went through Ianto's movie collection as he grabbed his toothbrush, pajamas, a suit for the next day, a blanket and pillow, and some shower products. They were disappointed in his lack of stupid, fun movies, but settled on some old classics on DVD. Gwen brought along popcorn and other junk foods insisting if they were going to sleep at all that night they were going to need to be in a diabetic coma.

When the team arrived at the hub they watched a few movies, changed into their pajamas, ate large amounts of junk food and drank too much beer, and fell asleep by two. Adriana woke up once from a nightmare, gasping for breath and fighting down a scream. She had sat up so quick that she had accidentally hit Ianto on the shoulder. She jumped when he touched her arm. She held a hand to her heart when she saw it was him to show that he had scared her. He smiled and gestured for her to move closer. She smiled in return and settled down with her head against his chest. She sighed contentedly and he stroked her arm comfortingly until he fell asleep. She fell asleep soon after and slept peacefully knowing that there was someone who cared and her nightmares held no truth.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Alright, see you all tomorrow," Jack called down from his office as the team gathered their things to leave one Friday evening.

"Bye Jack!" Adriana called up to his office before turning to see Ianto putting his suit jacket on, heading towards her. "So what do you want to do tonight? There's a new film playing that I wanted to see. Or we can go to that place with the grainy coffee and the bad poetry again and try free styling-"

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_. Everyone looked at the rift monitor and groaned. Adriana let her shoulders fall in defeat, Ianto hung his head, Gwen rolled her eyes and pulled out her cell phone, and Jack came back out of his office with a scowl on his face. Ianto checked the monitor "Looks like a small rift activity. Adriana and I can check on it; we're heading to that part of town anyways. It doesn't look like anything major."

"Just let me know, okay?" Jack said.

Ianto and Adriana nodded before heading to the cog door. Once the door closed behind them, Adriana punched Ianto in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For volunteering us!" Adriana exclaimed.

"I just-" he started to reply.

"-can't say 'no' to Jack," she mocked.

Ianto rolled his eyes and took out his keys.

"Can I drive?" Adriana asked.

"No, you'll have to adjust the seats and mirrors and mess everything up," Ianto replied opening his door.

Once they reached the site of the rift activity they cautiously got out of the car. Holding their torches over their guns they peered around at the mostly empty parking lot of the central rail station. They neither saw nor heard anything move as they slowly made their way across the parking lot. Then near the East end, Ianto saw a strange looking box sitting within a parking space. He approached it and put his gun away and picked it up. There was foreign writing printed into its glossy orange surface and it felt almost plastic. Adriana saw him holding the box and approached him.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I think it's something from the future maybe. It feels plastic to me but I can't read the writing," he said squinting at the writing under the torchlight.

"No, that's definitely not an Earth language. But maybe we learn alien languages in the future. Or other planets have plastic," Adriana said before reaching out to hold the box. "Yeah, it is like plastic. Totally loving the colo-"

Both Adriana and Ianto fell to the ground unconscious after a strange tremor passed from the box and up their arms. The mysterious object fell between them and remained still. Minutes later Adriana came to and hissed in pain as she mover her weight off of her wrist. She felt heavy and clumsy as she turned over and sat up. She stared at her feet for what seemed like minutes before her still foggy brain bothered to notice that she was wearing men's dress shoes and black suit pants instead of her old, red Converse and jeans.

Next to her Ianto opened his eyes to see the parking lot gravel. His head was pounding and he sat up feeling light and small. He shook his head, thinking he was light-headed. He moved to brush off the front of his suit jacket when his hands ran over two of something that should not be on a man's chest. His hands paused and he looked down slowly, disbelievingly, and saw that he was wearing a navy blue top over two rather voluptuous breasts.

They turned to each other and screamed at the sight of their own bodies sitting next to them. Adriana tried to scream in a normal, female scream but Ianto's vocal chords didn't carry that pitch. Ianto screamed an average male scream and it sounded like a female primal scream.

"Did we switch bodies?" Ianto exclaimed in Adriana's voice.

"I- I think so," Adriana said looked over herself in Ianto's body.

They stood up with some difficulty considering they were in new bodies that were drastically different than their own. Adriana was five foot four and Ianto was about six foot.

"How did this happen?" Adriana asked, still shocked at seeing her own body standing in front of her.

"It happened just after we both were touching the box," Ianto said, looking at the orange, plastic-like box. Without saying anything they both quickly bent to pick up the box. Both of them stood, holding it and waiting to change back. After two minutes of nothing they gave up.

"We need to call Jack." Adriana said in a panicked voice.

Ianto was silent for a moment before he responded. "No."

"What?" Adriana asked in Ianto's Welsh accent.

"We didn't follow protocol. We weren't supposed to touch it without scanning it first," Ianto said with Adriana's London accent.

"But I'm in your body!" Adriana exclaimed in a nervous, high pitch, making Ianto's voice crack.

"And I'm in yours! So this is _our_ problem, not Jack's or Gwen's. _We _will fix this," he said.

"So what do we do now?" Adriana asked.

"We go see the movie you wanted to see, go home, sleep, and go to work tomorrow. And while we're at work we will try to figure this out," Ianto replied, brushing some dirt off the front of the navy blue shirt he was now wearing.

"Stop touching my boobs!" Adriana insisted. But that demand came out in Ianto's voice and she laughed.

"I wasn't!" he insisted and laughed.

Ianto picked up the strange, orange box with Adriana's sleeves covering his- her hands and tucked it under his- her arm. They walked back to Ianto's car with only a few stumbles and misplaced steps. Ianto in Adriana's body went to the driver's side and got in. Adriana got in the passengers seat and looked on, amused as Ianto realized that he couldn't reach the pedals. He slammed Adriana's head against the head rest. "Fine," he grumbled and got out of the car and switched places with a happy Ianto-sized Adriana.

Once they arrived at the theater, Adriana realized something that would under any other circumstances be normal, but was now calamitous. She had to pee. She looked at Ianto as he picked out a candy.

"Uh, I-er, I have to, you know, pee," she said when he came back with a package of gummy worms.

"Yeah, I've had to go since we left the hub. So, I believe you," he said and opened the candy.

"Why wouldn't you believe me?" Adriana asked, confused.

"Because, you could just want a peek at my private bits." He grinned.

"Oh, please. I've seen your private bits, love, and they're not that special," she teased and headed towards the toilets. She took a deep breath and bravely entered the men's room. Luckily, it was empty.

When she came out, Ianto was waiting by the drinking fountain. "That was admittedly weird," she said. He smirked.

Once they were in their seats, Adriana moved to cross her legs- but they were Ianto's legs. She immediately uncrossed them. "Yeah, don't do that," he whispered to her as the opening credits started.

After the movie Adriana drove to her flat and looked at Ianto expectantly.

"What?" he asked.

"You're in my body, therefore you need my clothes and my belongings," she explained.

He sighed before getting out of the car. "Don't mess anything up at my place. I know how you are," he said as they exchanged keys.

Adriana arrived at Ianto's flat and looked around. She turned on the TV and looked in his refrigerator. He had all health food and stuff she would never look twice at in the store. She wrinkled her nose- Ianto's nose, and shut the refrigerator. After watching some TV she turned it off and went to the bedroom. The bed was unmade and a pair of pajama pants was on it. She changed into the red flannel pajamas and realized that she was allowed to not wear a shirt- she was a boy- or, in a boy's body. She climbed into bed and turned off the light and fell asleep in the comfy bed.

The next morning, Ianto was working on putting on pantyhose. He had dressed in a skirt that Adriana had worn for a "Back to school" night at the bar where she dressed as a sexy teacher. But, Ianto didn't know that. All he knew was that the black skirt was the only work appropriate one Adriana owned and it went well with the pink button down blouse he chose. After struggling with pantyhose, he found a pair of black pumps in the very back of Adriana's shoe collection. He made a nice breakfast of eggs and toast with coffee, and was at work twenty minutes early.

Back at Ianto's flat, Adriana woke up late and had twenty minutes to get to work. She jumped out of bed, stumbled to Ianto's wardrobe and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had creases in it from where it was folded. She didn't have time to iron it, though. Ianto had one pair of tennis shoes that looked like they'd almost never been worn, but she tugged them on. She brushed her teeth- Ianto's teeth, and combed his hair and left the flat with five minutes to spare.

When Ianto walked into work, Jack looked at him strangely. "Adriana, are you sick?"

"What? No, no, I'm just early today," Ianto answered nervously.

"Are you sure? You're dressed like . . . like a female Ianto," Jack said with a smile.

"Positive," Ianto insisted, not looking Jack in the eye.

"Speaking of Ianto, where is he? He's always this early," Jack said looking at the door.

Ianto's jaw clenched- Adriana's jaw clenched. "I don't know, Jack," he said and went to sit at Adriana's desk.

Adriana arrived just on time and everyone stared at her. She smiled and waved at them and took a seat at Ianto's desk. Ianto was glaring at her viciously. She guessed he didn't like the outfit.

"Ianto. My office. Now," Jack called.

Adriana almost didn't get up from her seat but then she remembered that _she_ was Ianto. She jogged up the stairs and into Jack's office. "Shut the door," Jack said. Adriana obliged.

"What's going on? Is something wrong? Did something happen last night?" Jack asked concern covered his features.

"No, why?" Adriana asked, nervously.

"Because, one, you never called to tell me what the rift activity was; two, you weren't here your normal half hour early; and three, what are you wearing?" Jack listed.

"I woke up late and didn't have time to put on anything else or iron. And I'm sorry I didn't call last night, Adriana and I got sidetracked," Adriana replied.

"Okay, as long as nothings wrong," Jack said and kissed Adriana- Ianto.

Adriana smiled and quickly left Jack's office and went to make coffee. Ianto got up from Adriana's desk and followed. "What did he want?" he asked.

"He wanted to know if I, actually you, am okay," she said and started to make coffee.

"What did you say?" Ianto asked and helped her.

"I said I woke up late, which is the truth," she shrugged. "And then he kissed me."

Ianto almost dropped the coffee pot. "He kissed you?"

"Yeah, so have you so should it matter?" she countered casually.

"Well, no," he replied.

"Good," she said and walked back to Ianto's desk, leaving him to finish making coffee.

Throughout the day both Ianto and Adriana researched body swapping in the archives and anywhere else they could think of. Neither was successful and they went home in each other's bodies again.

Ianto received a call just before he was contemplating an attack plan for the shower. "Hello, Adriana speaking."

"Oh, cut the crap, it's me," Adriana said on the other end.

"Is something wrong?" Ianto asked worriedly.

"Sort of. I just don't like this. Why can't we tell Jack?" Adriana asked. "I'm sure he can help us."

"He'll sack us if we tell him," Ianto replied irritably.

"No he won't! It was an accident! Come on, Ianto," Adriana pleaded.

"Is it really that bad being in my body?" Ianto asked, slightly offended.

"No, but I keep forgetting to stand up to pee and I have to be neat and clean or people get suspicious," Adriana whined.

Ianto chuckled. "And I hate pantyhose but I like it better than unemployment."

Adriana growled in frustration and hung up the phone. She was relaxing on the couch when Jack called. She hesitated before answering "Hello, Ianto speaking."

"You up for a game of naked hide and seek?" Jack asked.

"_What_?" Adriana gasped, almost dropping the phone.

"Are- are you with somebody right now?" Jack's voice lost some of its confidence.

"No, no I'm alone. I'm just not feeling up for . . . that, tonight," Adriana replied.

"I thought you were always up for naked games," Jack said in a deep voice.

Adriana made a mental note to never _ever_ attend any sort of "game night" planned by the men of Torchwood. "Oh, baby, I'm always up for anything involving you, but I . . . I have a tummy ache," Adriana tried and failed to be sexy, but then panicked when she realized that Ianto would never say 'tummy ache.'

"Alright, just let me know if you change your mind," Jack said, a little disappointed.

"Yeah, will do," Adriana assured.

"Bye, sexy," Jack said.

"Uh, bye, hot stuff," she hesitated to reply before she hung up the phone as quickly as she could. Adriana stared at the phone for a few minutes before grabbing a jacket and heading to her own flat.

Without knocking she burst into her flat. "Who's there?" she heard her own voice call out.

"God, Ianto, don't you know that's the line everyone says in horror movies before they're brutally killed by a guy with a hatchet?" Adriana said as she grabbed a beer from the fridge and went to find him. The bathroom door was shut and a light came from the crack under the door. "Ianto," Adriana said slowly. "What are you doing in there?"

"I'm trying to bloody shave!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Here, open the door and I'll help you," Adriana said and sipped her beer.

"Oh, isn't that perfect. I'm resorting to have a man shave my legs for me!" He shouted sarcastically.

"Oi," Adriana said, insulted.

The door unlocked and opened and Adriana saw her own body, half naked, wet, with legs covered in soap, standing before her. "Oh, my goodness," she said when she noticed the little streams of blood running down Ianto's legs- her legs. "Alright, sit down on the edge of the tub and, for the sake of Torchwood, hand me that razor."

Ianto obliged and Adriana shaved his- her legs. It was a mind boggling experience.

"So, I got a booty call from Jack," Adriana said as casually as she could.

"Wh-what?" Ianto asked, turning red with embarrassment.

"I told him that I'd love to but I had a tummy ache," Adriana continued.

"Are you being serious?" Ianto asked.

"Nah, I actually told him the truth. I told him that we were so dumb the other night and we've been ripped from our own bodies and placed in each others'. Oh, we're fired by the way," Adriana said with a straight face.

"WHAT!?" Ianto exclaimed in a very high pitch. He was just showing off the high frequency vocal chords that Adriana had. "Adriana! Please tell me you're joking!"

"I'm joking, Ianto. About getting fired and telling Jack about everything. But he really did call to play naked hide and seek," Adriana laughed.

"Oh," was all Ianto could say as his heart rate descended to normal.

"What were you doing with my half naked body?" Adriana asked.

"I was taking a shower," Ianto replied.

"You kept clothes on while you showered," Adriana said flatly as she looked at the wet t-shirt Ianto was wearing.

"Well, yeah, out of respect for you," he said.

"Oh, please! Don't tell me you haven't done your share of poking and prodding!" Adriana laughed.

"No, have you?" Ianto seemed to be afraid to ask.

"Hell, yeah. It was practically the first thing I did," she scoffed.

"I'm glad to know my body is in good hands," Ianto said stuffily and looked away.

"It's not like I violated you in anyway," she defended. There was a pause. "But would I be violating myself if . . ." she trailed off and grabbed at Ianto's chest- her chest.

He gasped and smacked her hand. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Just wondering what that felt like from the other side," she said with a shrug and stood up.

He frowned and stood up, wrapping himself in Adriana's bright green bathrobe. "I'll be just a few minutes longer."

Adriana nodded and left the bathroom and went to lounge and watch TV. Ianto came out ten minutes later and sat down next to her. "Are you done playing with my body now?" Adriana asked, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Yes- no. I was just getting dressed," he said quickly.

"Uh-huh," Adriana smirked.

"Is there a specific reason you came over?" Ianto asked.

"I missed my place," she replied.

"I figured you were here to bug me about telling Jack some more," he said.

"That was a bonus to coming here," she admitted.

"The answer is still no," Ianto said and started to stand up.

Adriana grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the couch. It was surprisingly easy for her since she had Ianto's strength and he had her petite frame. He looked at her, shocked, and tried to sit up again but she pushed him down again and pinned him on his back on the couch. His brow was scrunched as he frowned, but on Adriana's face it looked like a pout. "This is hardly fair. You're using your size against me."

"Now you know how it feels," Adriana grinned but then turned serious. "We are going to tell Jack. I can't stand being in your body anymore. This is getting bloody ridiculous, Ianto."

"Oh, because I love it _so much_ in your body with the shaving and the pantyhose and the tight pants!" he yelled sarcastically. She scowled and pressed her weight onto him. "Stop that," he said breathlessly.

"Why?" she taunted and wriggled.

"Because- that's why," he said and burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Adriana, if I can feel that so can you," he said between laughs and then pointed down their bodies.

She looked and then groaned. "I forgot about that part of being a boy."

Ianto opened his mouth to speak but couldn't think of anything and laughed more instead. She pouted and unpinned him.

"Can we tell Jack at the end of the day tomorrow if we don't solve it by then?" Adriana asked.

"No! Adriana, what of the word 'no' don't you understand?" he exclaimed sitting up and kneeling on the couch next to her.

"The part that keeps me out of my own body and life!" she yelled back, livid now. "What, are you _embarrassed_ to tell Jack you made a mistake?"

"I am not embarrassed!" he screamed. Their scowling, angry faces were mere inches apart and their mingled breath was hot on each other's face.

"Then be a fucking man and just do it!" she screamed back. "Oh, but wait, _I'm _the one in the man's body." She stood up and headed quickly to the door.

Ianto grabbed her arm to stop her but she yanked her arm away fiercely and pushed him. She had momentarily forgotten that there was a large difference in the strength in Ianto's body and the strength in her own body and Ianto fell to the ground hard. The back of his head, Adriana's head, smacked the coffee table as he fell.

She gasped and ran back to his side, abandoning the open door. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" she said frantically as Ianto blinked and shook his head to clear the fog.

"What the hell is going on here?" Gwen's furious voice came from the open door.

"It's- it's not what it looks like. It was an accident, I swear!" Adriana tried to explain.

"Ianto, get the fuck out of here!" she screamed and Adriana hurried out of the flat.

Adriana drove quickly back to Ianto's flat and paced the entire place a million times before making her decision. She got back into Ianto's car and drove directly to the Hub. Once there, Jack was waiting just inside the door having heard her coming in the tourist center entrance. He had an eye brow raised and his arms folded across his bare chest, wearing only his pajama pants. "Good evening, Ianto," he said with a smirk. But once he saw the look on Adriana's face he tensed up and all flirtations were dropped.

"Jack, there's something I need to tell you," Adriana said.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** Yo and hello, readers! This chapter is quite mature in themes just so ya know.  Also, this chapter has not been edited yet, I have a research paper to edit and that's a little (just a little) bit more important. And afterwards, I'll be indulging in my new –unhealthily nerdy- obsession, the tv show Legend of the Seeker. Wait, House is on tonight. Decisions decisions. . . .

**Chapter 9**

"What's wrong, Ianto?" Jack asked Adriana, his arms dropping to his sides.

"I'm not Ianto," Adriana said. When Jack stared at her with a confused expression, she continued. "I'm Adriana in Ianto's body."

"And how did this happen?" Jack asked, looking as if he wasn't sure if Ianto had picked up a new interest in role playing or that it was the truth.

"Remember that mission you sent Ianto and I on the other night? Well, we found this orange box. It was plastic-like and had strange writing on it and when we both touched it at the same time we switched bodies. I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier but Ianto was afraid that you'd fire us for not following protocol," Adriana spilled.

"Did you both try touching it again?" Jack asked seriously.

"Of course, that was the first thing we did after freaking out," Adriana replied. "We also did as much research we could but there's no record of anything like it in the archives."

"I'll have a look in my own archives in my office. I'll get this straightened out," he said looking Adriana up and down. "This is too weird," he mumbled as he went up to his office.

Adriana's phone rang; Ianto was calling. She hesitated before answering. "Hey," she said. "I'm at the hub. I'm sorry, but I told Jack. I had to; this is getting out of hand."

"I know," he said quietly. "What did he say?"

"He said he'd help us. He's looking in his own archives right now. Is Gwen still there?"

"She left a few minutes ago. I told her what was going on so that she didn't find you and kill you," he replied.

"Are you alright? Did I hurt you?" she asked, worriedly.

"I'm fine," he said simply.

"Do you want to come to the hub now and get this straightened out?" she proposed.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few," he said before hanging up.

Adriana made a large pot of coffee, knowing it was going to be a long night. Once Ianto arrived, Jack had a good laugh at their misfortune of switching bodies. He was extremely amused by the situation and that made Adriana grumpy.

"Okay! We get it! You think this is funny. But it isn't funny to us!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Fine, fine," he said moodily before he went up to his office. Adriana and Ianto followed until Jack turned around on the stairs and said: "You can't come up. I'm accessing Top Secret and highly dangerous artifacts. I don't want you guys to get hurt or see my secret stash."

Ianto sighed as they turned around and went back down the stairs. Adriana sat down on the couch and pouted like a five year old as Ianto sat next to her and let his head rest on the back of the couch. They waited in mostly silence for hours before they fell asleep.

"Hey! Hey wake up! I fixed it!" Jack was saying loudly somewhere above them.

Adriana had fallen asleep in Ianto's body with Ianto in her body lying half on her with his head on her chest. She woke up in her own body with Ianto in his own body lying half on her with his head on her chest. She shook Ianto until he woke up.

"Get off, please," she said in her own voice.

"Oh, right, sorry," he said and moved off of her.

"How'd you fix it?!" Adriana exclaimed, while looking at her body making sure it was all hers.

"The alien artifact you two found was not an alien artifact. It was a toy from the future. The language was the universal language that everyone adopts far into the future. I had to decode the language before I could even begin my search through the archives. But I found it and I figured it out. Torchwood had seen this before and had one in the locked archives. All you had to do was open the box by repeating the written language on one side that had a password of sorts to open it. Simple!" Jack explained quickly.

"Simple," Adriana said sarcastically.

"Well, if you can read the language," Jack laughed.

"It only took you six hours to figure it out. We've been trying for days," Ianto said looking at his watch.

"Well, go home and get some rest and be back by noon," Jack said before turning and going back to his office.

They did as they were told and were back at work before the designated time. Well, Ianto was, Adriana was ten minutes late. Everyone was quiet at their desks and concentrating on their work. Adriana was creating a story as to why all of the electricity in half of the city went out the day before when she got an instant message.

TeaBoyExtraordinaire: I'm sorry for not letting you tell Jack.

Adriana looked around her computer and made eye contact with Ianto. She rolled her eyes and looked back at the screen.

BattyAddy: was it rly necessary 2 tell me this thru ims?

TeaBoyExtraordinaire: Yes, it's easier to apologize when I'm not actually face to face with you.

BattyAddy: and y is that?

TeaBoyExtraordinaire: Because you're insufferable and it annoys me that I was wrong and you were right.

BattyAddy: Well, im elated.

TeaBoyExtraordinaire: You would be.

BattyAddy: ur a jerk.

TeaBoyExtraordinaire: But you love me anyways.

BattyAddy: I also luv the cute kitten that pissed on my shoes last week.

"Oi!" Ianto laughed from his desk.

"It's true!" Adriana called back and signed off of her instant messenger.

Gwen just stared at them like they were mental before she shook her head and went back to her work.

Adriana's phone buzzed with a text message- it was from Ianto. "Are you still angry with me?" She replied: "Only if u don't stop bothering me while im trying to work."

A half hour later, Adriana got up to go to the bathroom and then get another cup of coffee. When she came out of the bathroom Ianto was waiting for her. "What?" she asked.

"I'm going to buy you dinner tonight," he said.

"Uh, why?" she asked as she made her way to the coffee machine.

"Because I still feel bad," he replied, handing her the sugar.

"Ianto, you already apologized. I forgive you," she insisted as she stirred in too much sugar and cream. He looked at her pale coffee and wrinkled his nose. "What? I like my coffee like I like my men: hot, blonde, and sweet."

"Excuse me?" Ianto gasped.

Adriana heard Gwen laugh from her desk. "Apparently you've never heard that one," Adriana said and turned to go back to her desk. "Ianto, I'll think about it."

It was just before everyone was getting ready to leave after a slow, boring day when Gwen emailed Adriana. "He feels band and wants to buy you dinner because he likes you."

Adriana signaled for Gwen to follow her to the other side of the hub. "What makes you say that he likes me?" Adriana asked.

"I asked him and he told me," Gwen replied simply with a grin.

"Have we all regressed to the age of twelve?" Adriana laughed.

"Maybe," Gwen allowed. "But now you know."

"Jack," Adriana sighed. "I really don't want to hurt him. He's been super nice to me and I know that he wouldn't be so nice after he found out. I think he would kill me, find a way to bring me back and kill me again."

"That is a possibility, but I'll monitor the weapon logs to see if he takes anything," Gwen joked.

"Well, the ball is in Ianto's court," Adriana said and went back to her desk to wrap up what she was working on.

Adriana felt Jack's eyes on her as she put on her coat and Ianto approached her. Ianto stood in front of her but she was still able to see and make eye contact with Jack over his shoulder. "What are you in the mood for tonight?"

"Um, I don't know, I guess a pizza is fine," she replied glancing up at Jack and then back to Ianto.

"We can meet at my place," Ianto said.

"Uh- um . . ." Adriana looked up at Jack again and saw him nod once before returning to his office. "Sure, that'll be fine. I'll stop at home for a few minutes and then I'll be over."

"Good, I'll see you then," Ianto said before leaving.

Adriana went to Jack's office after the cog door closed behind Ianto. She knocked and then entered. Jack was sitting at his desk with his feet up on it and leaning back in his chair. "Jack, do you have a minute?"

"Come on in, Adriana," he said, swinging his feet off of the desk.

Adriana perched carefully on the chair in front of his desk. "I think Ianto likes me. Well, Gwen asked Ianto and he said yes and then she told me. And I don't know what to do," she said in a rush, looking at her hands fidgeting on her lap.

"I figured as much. Minus the he said she said part," he smiled. "Do you have feelings for Ianto?"

Adriana didn't answer. She waited in silence until Jack nodded his head and took a deep breath. "Are- are you mad at me?" she asked at last.

"No, I'm not mad. I knew this day would come sooner or later. I guess its better that it's sooner rather than later," Jack replied.

Adriana studied his face but could detect no sign that he was lying. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to feed me to a Weevil or the pterodactyl."

"Nah, too much paperwork," he chuckled.

"Thank you, Jack, for understanding," Adriana said as she stood up.

He nodded. "Have a good night, see you tomorrow."

As Adriana went down the stairs she looked back into Jack's office through the windows. He had his head back and his hands were in his hair. Adriana thought he looked sad and felt terrible again. She rationalized that if Jack didn't want her and Ianto to be together he would have said so. Besides, he said he was glad that Ianto found someone sooner rather than later.

Adriana sped home, showered, changed into a flirty, red top and dark blue jeans, took her hair out of its bun and let it cascade down her back, did her make-up, put on some black heels, and put a spare shirt and her tooth brush in her purse. Just in case. She arrived at Ianto's flat at about seven. He answered the door and she was honestly surprised to see him voluntarily not wearing his suit. He was wearing a pair of worn in jeans, and a black t-shirt. "You look nice," Adriana said as she stepped into his flat.

"Thanks, you look great, too," he said. "I got your favorite kind of pizza: plain cheese pizza with pineapple."

"But you hate it!" Adriana laughed.

"Its half pineapple and half pepperoni," he smiled as they entered the kitchen. "Do you want to eat now?"

"If you don't mind. I'm absolutely starving," Adriana replied.

They sat at the table and ate their pizza. Adriana jokingly scolded Ianto for the pepperoni grease getting on her pineapple half of the pizza and Ianto laughed at Adriana when she managed to drop pizza on herself. They laughed and talked until they were full of pizza and Coke and then they moved to the living room and sat on the couch. Adriana pulled her legs up on the couch and folded them under her and faced Ianto. He sat a half couch cushion away from her and turned his torso to face her with his arm over the back of the couch.

"So about the job you had before Torchwood . . ." Ianto began but trailed off because he didn't know where to start.

"I was a bartender and dancer," she said, not quite sure where this was going.

"Yeah, but you were almost naked," he added.

"So?" She sighed when she realized what he was trying to get at. "Ianto, I only worked there because it was the first job I found when I moved here. I didn't like it at all. Pervy old men were always hitting on me and I felt violated. It just wasn't for me."

"Okay," he said, visibly relieved.

"Why do you ask?" She asked and lightly caressed his arm which was extended towards her on the back of the couch.

"I didn't like the idea of you doing that. You're too nice of a girl," he replied, watching her hand caressing him and making bumps rise in his skin.

"Nice? I insult you all the time!" she giggled and caressed his forearm and the sensitive skin on the inside of his elbow.

"Yeah, but you're joking," he smiled.

"True," she admitted and looked at him through her eyelashes.

He slowly tucked her hair behind her ear with the hand that was along the back of the couch. She closed her eyes as his fingers brushed her face. He let his hand drop to her neck and traced the contours of her collar bone and up to her jaw. When his hand moved to just under her chin she moved forward so that her face was close to his. She waited for him to initiate the kiss. The few second wait felt like torture. Then his lips finally touched hers. The kiss gradually got deeper and soon they were snogging with their hands in each other's hair. Adriana tightened her grip on his hair just slightly and moved to straddle him, never once breaking the kiss. He let out a slight moan at the pressure of her weight and she sensually moved her hips against his to increase the pressure. His breath hitched and she smiled into the kiss. She moved her hips again and he grabbed her ass and pulled her closer. She gasped at the sudden movement and then lightly bit his lip. He broke the kiss and moved his lips to her neck. She sighed with pleasure and shivered from the excitement before she lifted his shirt over his head.

The last time they were intimate they were under the control of an alien energy and she didn't get a good look at him. She admired his chest and stomach now by running her hands up and down his stomach and kissing his neck. He slipped his hands up the back of her shirt and slowly lifted it until she leaned back and allowed him to pull it over her head. He sat up and kissed the skin above her black lace bra as she breathed heavily in response. She sighed his name and he stood up; his hands under her to keep her from falling while she had her legs around his waist and her lips on his. He made his way to the front door without breaking their kiss and pressed her against the door so he could lock it. She moved her hips against his while he blindly stumbled towards his bedroom.

He practically threw her onto the bed before climbing in after her. She bounced twice and laughed before he covered her with his body. They laughed as they kissed until he pressed his hips against hers and they both moaned. She slid her hands down between their bodies and undid his belt and the button and zipper of his jeans. He helped her get his jeans off and then he sat up and slowly pulled off her pants, his thumbs hooked in the belt loops and his fingertips grazing the skin on her legs as he removed her pants. She sighed his name again but this time it was scolding him for teasing her. He kissed his way back up to her lips and she sat up as he slid her bra straps over her shoulders and then unfastened it. There was no shame felt when he took in the sight of her voluptuous chest. But she didn't give him much time to linger; she pushed him down on the bed and kissed his lower stomach as she removed his boxers. He stroked her hair but tugged it lightly to bring her back up to kiss his lips. But she got a good enough look to know that he was of average size which was perfect for her petite frame. He removed his hands from her hair and slid her black lace panties down her legs. She was reaching down to guide him into her when he rolled them over so that he was on top and he reached into a drawer in his nightstand for a condom.

"We got lucky last time," he said huskily.

She didn't say anything as she watched him open the condom with his teeth before putting it on carefully. He looked at her and they locked eyes. Their eyes were mirrored expressions of desire and anticipation, but he stroked her hair softly. She ran her fingers lightly over his sides, raising bumps on his skin again. She gasped when she felt him pressing against her and let him enter her. They both gasped and moaned as they held onto each other fiercely. His lips were on her neck as their hips met over and over. Her mouth was on his shoulder and her hands were on his back feeling his muscles work.

Soon her back was arching off the bed and into his chest and he was pressing further into her. They both were sweating, but in the good way, as they approached their climaxes. She came first with a yell and her nails dragging across his back. As she was coming he came with a guttural moan and he tightened his hold on her as her muscles convulsed and trembled. When their heart rates started to return to normal he lied down next to her and kissed her forehead and hair.

She turned and buried her face in the pillows mumbling something.

"What?" he chuckled.

"I don't even know," she giggled exhaustedly, he voice muffled by the pillow.

He laughed now and pulled her to him and held her.

"You're good," he said.

"I know," she replied.

"And?"

"And you're pretty good yourself," she added with a laugh.

They made love twice more that night before they were too tired to even move. They fell asleep in the tangled, sweaty sheets without a care in the world. Adriana was, for the first time since she moved, truly happy.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"YOU GOT PULLED OVER IN THE SUV??!!!" Jack was screaming at Adriana.

"Yes," she replied meekly, not looking at him.

"HOW? WHY? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!!" Jack was beyond angry. This terrified Adriana, honestly, but seemed to amuse both Gwen and Ianto. They were snickering behind Jack at their desks.

"I . . . was in a hurry," Adriana practically whispered.

"FOR WHAT?" Jack was still yelling.

"I had to pee!" Adriana said with a bright blush.

Jack's angry posture faltered for a second. "Why didn't you go before you left?"

"I didn't have to go then," Adriana replied truthfully. "I drank a lot of coffee."

Jack stared at her for a few more moments before turning quickly to Ianto. "IANTO! Why didn't you make her slow down?!"

Ianto looked completely shocked that he was now being yelled at. "Uh- I'm sorry, Jack. I did try but she wouldn't listen."

There were a few more moments of silence while Jack regained his cool. "Adriana, you're paying the bill. And you're cleaning out the Weevil cells before you leave," he directed as he jogged up the stairs to his office.

Adriana groaned.

"That's not the best part," Ianto told Gwen, "you should have heard what she told the police: 'Sorry, sir, important Torchwood duties. We're in a hurry.' Now, I have to admit that she lied flawlessly but the box of doughnuts sitting on my lap kind of ruined it. Then the man says 'What? A doughnut run? Don't play that game with me,' and then wrote up her ticket."

Gwen was in hysterics and Ianto couldn't help but chuckle as he told the story. Adriana frowned and remained grumpy. She crinkled up a piece of paper and threw it at Ianto- hitting him on the head. As she did so, there was a sound coming from the CCTV that displayed the shop at the front entrance. Ianto bit back a retort to Adriana's childish behavior and checked the CCTV.

"Gwen, it's Rhys," he said before returning to his seat, eyeing the ball of paper on his desk.

Gwen looked worried as she went to meet her husband. Ianto threw the paper ball back at Adriana while she was looking at Gwen. They continued a small office supply war until Gwen returned five minutes later. Her face was pale and she looked as if she were going to cry. Adriana and Ianto froze when they saw her and Jack came down from his office quickly.

"Gwen, what's wrong?" Jack asked.

"What happened to Rhys?" Adriana asked.

Ianto helped her sit down.

"Something has him," she said quietly and slowly.

"What do you mean, Gwen?" Jack asked seriously.

"He wasn't him, he wasn't Rhys," she said, shaking her head. "He was dead in the eyes and he wanted into the Hub."

"What?" Adriana gasped and clasped Gwen's hand.

"What did he say?" Jack asked.

"He didn't even say 'hello!' He just said 'I need to get into Torchwood,' and when I told him he couldn't come in, he repeated himself. I knew something was wrong so I came back here. He didn't follow me in, I made sure," Gwen said.

Jack ran towards the door with Ianto and Adriana on his heels. Gwen forced herself out of her seat and went to the computers to monitor the CCTVs. Up in the shop; Rhys was nowhere to be seen. Adriana opened the door and looked around carefully and Ianto and Jack were just behind her doing the same.

"There he is!" Jack exclaimed while pointing to where Rhys was, indeed, walking on the sidewalk away from the Hub.

All three went sprinting after him and Jack grabbed Rhys' arm. He spun Rhys to face him and looked at him. "Gwen was right. Either something is controlling Rhys, or this isn't Rhys."

"Should we take him back to the Hub?" Ianto asked.

"No, we don't know what he was after. Let's just keep a close watch on him," Jack said.

"And how will we do that?" Adriana asked.

"One of you, take off your right shoe," Jack demanded, looking annoyed.

"What?" Both Adriana and Ianto asked.

"Just do it, and quickly," Jack said, still holding on to the silent Rhys' arm.

Adriana swiftly took off her right shoe and looked at Jack. He rolled his eyes. "Give the shoe to me and hold on to Rhys."

Adriana did as she was told and Jack ripped part of the rubber sole of her shoe off. She was about to yell at him for ruining a good shoe, when he pulled out a micro chip of sorts. "Oi, that's not fair!" She yelled at Jack.

"I don't stalk you guys. I have this tracker in every right shoe of every pair you own. It's so that if you're out on a mission and you go missing, I can track you down," Jack explained as he put the tracker in Rhys' pocket.

Adriana let go of Rhys and he walked away. "How'd you get it into every pair of our shoes?"

"Don't ask. It's not necessary for you to know," Jack said and led the way back to the Hub.

Adriana put her shoe back on and hurried after Jack and Ianto. "Were you ever going to tell us you had a bloody GPS in our shoes?"

"No, because I knew you'd be angry," Jack said.

"Oh, well, I am," Adriana clarified.

"Don't forget the Weevil cells," Jack reminded her as they entered the Hub.

Jack found Gwen and told her what was going on and told her not to go home that night. She was to stay there and help Jack monitor Rhys' movement.

Before she left for the evening, Adriana cleaned out the disgusting Weevil cells. When she left Jack and Gwen were up in Jack's office discussing what could possibly have been wrong with Rhys. She and Ianto were told to leave but to keep their phones on and to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Adriana smelled terrible when she got to her flat. She immediately dropped her things and got into the shower and spent a lot of time in the scalding hot water. When she decided she was adequately sanitized, she got out of the shower. Her phone beeped from her pants pocket on the bathroom floor to remind her that she had a missed phone call. She looked at her cell phone and saw that there were eight missed calls. She panicked and hit the call back button, which called Jack's phone. While it was connecting, there was a noise from just outside the bathroom door. Her heart raced and her breath hitched. Jack must have hit ignore on his phone because it rang once before going to voicemail. Then her phone beeped with a text message: "Don't move" was Jack's message.

There were definitely footsteps coming from the hallway. Adriana hugged her towel tighter around her and looked for something that could be used as a weapon. She picked up her decorative toilet paper holder which was a marble rod with an ornately carved base. She held it like a baseball bat after removing the toilet paper. She tried to calm herself as she waited for help. She heard things being moved around in her flat; wardrobes being opened, drawers and chests being opened, papers being thrown, and someone mumbling. She steadied herself and listened intently. The person who was mumbling was a man and he was saying "Torchwood" over and over again. She figured it was Rhys and that Jack was not far away.

Her font door slammed open and she heard Jack shouting to Gwen. "Grab him! Check him for weapons!"

Adriana hesitated before reaching to the door handle. But before she could open it, Jack yanked open the door. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine. Just a little confused," Adrian replied stepping out of the bathroom. She saw Gwen holding onto Rhys in her living room with her belongings scattered over the floor. "What was he looking for?"

"I don't know," Jack replied. "But I assume it has to do with Torchwood."

Rhys was still mumbling as Jack and Gwen brought Rhys out to the SUV. Adriana stayed inside and watched from the window because she was still wearing her towel. There was a quick movement behind her and she gasped and turned around. Ianto was at the open front door. "You scared me!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, what happened?" he asked, entering the flat and looking at the mess.

"That can't be Rhys," Adriana realized suddenly. "I never told him where I live."

"Maybe Gwen. . ." Ianto suggested.

"Phone," Adriana said holding out her hand.

He handed his to her. "Why not use yours?"

"Don't have pockets in this towel," she said sarcastically and dialed Gwen's number.

"Ianto?" Gwen answered.

"Did you ever tell Rhys where I live?" Adriana asked as she rushed to her bedroom and found clothes to put on. She threw on a pair of jeans and a plain green sweatshirt before going back to the living room.

"No, I didn't. Did you?" Gwen asked.

"Obviously not, since I just asked you," Adriana replied. Then she mouthed "stop that" to Ianto who was cleaning up the mess.

"Okay, this is some more information, thanks Adriana. Come to the Hub when you can," Gwen said before hanging up.

Adriana gave Ianto back his phone and gathered her things before they rushed to the Hub. Jack met them at the door. "It's not Rhys. The real Rhys called to see if Gwen was okay about ten minutes ago. We have the fake Rhys in a cell and the real Rhys in on his way here," Jack explained.

"Can they wear nametags?" Adriana asked seriously.

Jack paused. "We'll be fine."

"So it's a copy of Rhys?" Ianto asked.

"It's the shell of a copy of Rhys." Jack nodded.

"What's controlling it?" Ianto asked.

"Not sure. The air in the cell is analyzing him right now and all the readout says is human," Jack said, leading them to the cells.

Once they reached where Gwen was standing, they saw that she was staring at the screen intently. "Look at this. It says that he's not human, now. What changed?" Gwen asked.

Jack looked at the screen and then typed in something on the keyboard. "No, look, it's been reading the alien presence the whole time but the machine figured it as background noise. But now it has raised a few levels and the machines read it as a threat."

"What happened to make the levels go up, though?" Gwen asked.

Ianto moved to stand in front of the cell and watch the Rhys look-alike. "He's still mumbling," Ianto said.

"What's he saying now?" Jack asked.

Ianto pressed his ear against the window. He frowned. "He's reciting our personal files. I believe he has hacked into our databases somehow."

"That's why he wanted in!" Adriana said. "Who do you think he's reporting to?"

"I don't know but we have to get him to stop," Jack said and quickly switched around some controls for the cell on the computer. "There, now no telepathic or, well, teletechnopathic activity can be activated in the cell. Let's hope all he got was our personal files. They're basically on top of the pile of information in our database."

"How can we find out what's controlling him?" Gwen asked.

"We wait until it comes to find him. Whatever it is, it'll be missing its link real soon," Jack said, he was staring at the Rhys copy before shaking his head and snapping back to reality. "So, I say all of you go home, get your pj's, and come back. We're having a waiting party. Gwen, I'll talk to Rhys while you're gone."

"Are you serious? I really don't want to spend the night on the floor of the Hub again. My back hurt for ages after the last time," Adriana complained.

"Fine, but when the mysterious owners of the Rhys copy show up, you'll be left out," Jack said and shrugged.

Adriana rolled her eyes and made her way to the main room and Ianto followed her. "Are you sure you're not going to stay here?" he asked,

"No, I am staying here, I'm just not happy about it," she said, grabbing her coat as they left the Hub.

"Why don't we bring extra blankets and pillows so we won't all be sore and stiff when we undoubtedly will be running towards or away from whatever is controlling Rhys tomorrow?" Ianto suggested as he unlocked his car.

Adriana nodded and they got in the car.

"Or is that not the reason you're not happy to be staying at the Hub?" he asked as he shut his door and looked at her. He visibly was hoping for that answer.

"No, it's not the reason," she said and smiled at him.

"Then, we'll just have to grin and bear it, now won't we?" he laughed as they drove to Adriana's flat.

Ianto dropped Adriana off at her flat and then went to his. They were to drive their own cars back to the Hub. Adriana threw every blanket and pillow she owned into her car and then packed her things. She threw some food and drinks into a bag as well and headed back out to her car. She texted Ianto to say that she was leaving as she approached her car. But standing next to it was Ianto.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the Hub?" Adriana asked, throwing the bag of food into her car. "Oh, and ignore the text I just sent you, I was just telling you that I was leaving."

She shut the door of the backseat and turned to face him. Not only was there no ring from his phone to indicate a new text message, and no sign of his car, but his face was void of all expression. "No," she whispered and stepped away from him.

"I need to get to-"

"Torchwood, I know, I know. Get in the car I'll take you," she said agitatedly and pulled out her phone.

She dialed Jack's number as the Ianto copy got into the passenger's seat.

"Yes, Adriana?" Jack answered.

"We have another copy issue," Adriana said.

"Who? Are you with Ianto still?" He asked.

"Well, he went to his flat but he's _sort of_ here," Adriana replied and got into the driver's seat and started the car.

"Bring him in," Jack said.

"Already on it," Adriana said before hanging up and driving back to the Hub.

Once back at the Hub, Jack immediately put the Ianto copy in a cell and started the analysis and cut all telepathic frequencies. The real Ianto stared at the fake Ianto. "This is uncomfortable," he said.

Adriana turned to Gwen and asked: "Can I have both Iantos?"

Ianto shook his head and smirked.

Gwen stifled a laugh and pretended to look puzzled. "You know, Adriana, I think you'd have to ask Jack. Seeing as at least one of them is alien and therefore property of Torchwood."

"Jack," Adriana said, trying to look honestly curious. "Can I have both Iantos?"

"That's hardly fair," he replied.

"But I saw him first," Adriana laughed.

"But I had him-" Jack started.

"That's enough!" Ianto exclaimed.

Gwen laughed. "Okay, so the computer has so far analyzed the Ianto copy and matched it completely to the Rhys copy. I'm thinking they're both being controlled by the same thing."

"What are they made of? They look real," Ianto asked.

"Human skin and bone," Jack said. "But no blood. They're like balloons."

"What about their brains?" Adriana asked.

"None. So I'm completely at a loss for how they're seeing, hearing, talking, and collecting information from our computers," Jack said.

"Maybe they're like receptors for what's controlling them. Like antennas," Ianto suggested.

"You know, Ianto, that might be right," Jack said peering through the cell at the Ianto copy. "It's very possible that whatever is trying to get into Torchwood sent these guys as their spies."

"When do you think whatever's controlling them will come, now that we have two copies?" Adriana asked.

"I'd imagine soon. But it can't get in without us letting it in, so don't worry about it yet," Jack said as he headed to the main room.

"Yet," Adriana repeated.

The team spent the night on the floor of the Hub in piles of blankets and pillows. They were woken up at about seven by the phone ringing. Jack looked confused as he ran to pick it up. He came back a few minutes later telling them to get up, get dressed, and get ready to go.

"What happened?" Ianto asked.

"Gwen killed everyone at the police station last night," Jack said.

"WHAT?!" Gwen shrieked and dropped the blanket she was folding.

"Apparently we have another copy issue," Jack said. "I've told them that it was not the real Gwen that killed everyone. I had to tell them that there was someone that had the technology to clone the appearances of our team members and that we are dealing with it. They were _not_ happy, but they said they are going to let us do our jobs."

Gwen slowly began to move again. "Who called you," she asked quietly.

"P.C. Andy," Jack recalled.

Gwen put a hand to her heart in relief.

"Jack, what do we do?" Adriana asked.

"We'll be on the lookout for our evil twins. Apparently they're not just mindless clones. They're mindless, murderous clones," Jack replied.

**AN:** I've got this idea, and I'm going to run with it. Not sure if it'll be the end of the story or not, depends on if I get another idea or don't like how it would end.

On another site, someone emailed me and asked if Adriana was a self-insert. My response was: I wish. Adriana is supposed to be pretty, sexy if she wants to be, strong, smart, and a good dancer. You see, I am neither haha. If Adriana was a self-insert, she would be five feet tall, 125 lbs., American, nerdy, and wouldn't have been a stripper but rather a librarian. So yeah, maybe Adriana is the fantasy version of me, but she was never intended to be anything of the sort.  (But typing this gave birth to a stupid plot bunny that will be immediately trashed: a self-insert story with *me* being hired to work with the archives- alphabetizing, organizing, and digitalizing them. And then, of course, stirring up some drama along the way. HAHAHA!!)

Oh, PS: I'm trying not to make Adriana and Ianto a super romantic, sugary-sweet, and fluffy relationship. Because, you probably can imagine that their relationship is FAR from that. Hello, there's: Jack, the question of where Ianto really stands on the shades of gay color wheel, the mysteriousness as to WHY Adriana's ex is in prison and how she got him there and what she had to do with his bad self, the fact that Torchwood is one of the most dangerous jobs ever, death may be looming over one of their heads (but they don't know that so this reason is moot), and crap is always happening to them.

Adriana+ Ianto= not so many roses and valentines but more aliens and gun shots. :D


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Ianto and Adriana go to the police station and assure them that everything is being taken care of. Gwen and I'll track down Gwen's clone and any other ones we may come across," Jack ordered as he threw on his coat.

Everyone scrambled to grab their guns, torches, coms, phones, and other belongings before leaving. Adriana and Ianto drove to the police station and arrived at a scene of panic and chaos. Families were crying and demanding to see their loved ones but were not allowed to cross the crime scene tape. Numerous ambulances were parked near the entrance and every now and then a stretcher carrying a body covered with a white sheet came out. Adriana and Ianto rushed onto the scene shouting "Torchwood!" behind them as the police guarding the entrance yelled at them to stop.

Adriana gasped when she saw the aftermath and Ianto shook his head in anger. It appeared that the people there were caught of guard, seeing as Gwen was a friend of theirs. But that was their downfall this time; they didn't even have time to reach for their guns. PC Andy saw them coming in and approached them. "Do you have any information on whom and how they did this?"

"Not really," Ianto said. "We're here to see if we can find anything."

"The security tape clearly shows Gwen coming in and shooting everyone," Andy said. He was very distressed and looked like he was about to snap.

"It wasn't Gwen," Ianto assured him. "It was someone who looked like Gwen. Others have been cloned, or copied, already. But they have no blood, they're balloons. If you shoot them, they deflate and that kills them. Not that they were alive to begin with, but it stops them."

"How do we know?" Andy asked.

"They won't know any personal information and they will be dead in the eyes. Also, they might pull a gun on you. Just be on the lookout," Ianto said.

Andy appeared to relax a little.

"How many are dead?" Adriana asked quietly. Her eyes hadn't left a stain of blood that was on the wall next to her.

"Fifteen," Andy replied. "I had to call their families. I was the first person in this morning. I figured 'Hey, why not get those reports done early' so I came in before my shift and . . ." he was visibly shaken again.

"Here, Andy, I'll get you a cup of tea," Adriana said rushing off to where she saw a few others grabbing some well needed cups of tea and coffee behind the desk.

She brought him a large cup and he thanked her and begged them to find who did it. Adriana and Ianto promised that they'd do their best.

"Gwen and Jack are already tracking them down," Adriana assured him.

"If you need any help, I'm here," Andy offered.

"Thanks, Andy," Adriana said and touched his arm before she and Ianto walked around the building and viewing the CCTV.

Meanwhile, Jack and Gwen tracked down the faint traces of alien energy to find the clones. They find seven copies. One was a copy of Adriana, another of Ianto, two of Gwen, a second Rhys, and two of the mayor. Each was immediately deflated and disposed of without anyone seeing.

"We've found seven clones in the past two hours. Most of them are us or Rhys but two were the mayor," Jack said.

"But none of Jack," Gwen added.

"That's strange," Adriana said as she and Ianto got into the car.

"Will the copy of Jack have a copy of his wrist strap, too?" Ianto joked.

Everyone was silent and Ianto's smile melted off his face. He cleared his throat and said "Adriana and I are going back to the Hub."

"Good thinking," Jack said.

Back at the Hub Adriana ran more scans on the copies they had in cells and saw no changes. Ianto scanned the CCTV for the area around the police station and tried to find where the Gwen copy went after the police station. He saw that she'd gone into an alley and he lost sight of her.

Adriana finished the scans and finds Ianto at the computer studying the CCTV again. She notices that a screen was displaying the cells where she just was. She smiled and snuck up behind him. He was sitting at the desk, concentrating hard, and she draped her arms over his shoulders to his chest and kissed his cheek. He jumped.

"Any changes?" he asked, turning his attention to her.

"No," she replied the pointed to the screen showing the cells and said: "Were you stalking me?"

"I wanted to make sure that the copies didn't hurt you. You were alone and no one has been alone with them yet since they've been here," he replied.

Adriana removed her arms so that he could face her. "Oh, well thanks," she laughed and sat on his lap sideways so she could still see him.

"Are you coming to my place tonight?" he asked, leaning his forehead against hers.

She pretended to think about it. "Hm," she said and bit her lip. "You know, it is a possibility."

"Good, just let me know if your other plans cancel," he played along.

"He hasn't canceled any of our dates, yet," she said and then pretended as if she'd just let slip a secret. She covered her mouth and opened her eyes wide.

"Oh, if that's how it's going to be," he laughed and stood up so that she fell to the ground.

"Oi!" she yelled and kicked the back of his knee before he was able to escape.

He fell next to her and was about to say something when Jack called over the coms. "Ianto, Adriana, we think we found the source of the copies. There's an empty warehouse that's giving us strong alien energy readings. Also, huge rift energy readings."

"It's always a bloody empty warehouse," Gwen said angrily.

Jack chuckled. "So get here as soon as you can."

While Ianto and Adriana were on their way, Jack and Gwen snuck into the building and headed down a hallway towards the main room. There were double doors with windows and Jack peeked through it, his gun at the ready.

"There's about a hundred clones in there," Jack whispered.

"We should wait, this isn't the place of the highest readings," Gwen replied. "It's in the east wing."

Jack and Gwen find the source of everything in the east wing. They look in the window and see a beautiful woman among about ten copies. Jack tried to contact Ianto and Adriana over the coms but they were down. He swore under his breath and he and Gwen looked into the room again and saw the woman staring at them lowering a strange controller.

"Come in, I've been listening to you since you got here," she said, sounding bored.

Jack and Gwen looked at each other, confused, as the doors opened and the copies dragged them in. They were able to see the whole room now and saw that there were pictures of the entire Torchwood team and others on the wall. Most were candid or were old school pictures.

"I bet you're wondering how I did all this," she said slowly.

"And why!" Jack exclaimed, struggling against the clones.

"Torchwood is the leading Earth authority on alien interactions, is it not?" She didn't stop for an answer. "Humans are disgusting a dirty. They're only good for one thing: doing the dirty work of my people."

"You look human," Gwen stated.

"Yes, well, I couldn't go walking around in my own form, now could I? I put my brain into this dirty human's body while I finished my work," she replied.

"What are you?" Jack demanded.

She smiled and turned away from them.

Ianto and Adriana arrived at the warehouse and realized that the coms were down. But the SUV was still parked outside. They rushed into the building with their guns raised. They stopped just outside the room with all the copies awaiting instruction. Adriana looked questioningly at Ianto. He gave her a look that said "if you think you'll be able to handle it" and she looked at him like the answer to that was obvious. He nodded and kicked open the door.

Every copy stood up at once and looked at them. "Shit," Adriana mumbled.

"Remember, they're balloons, they can deflate," Ianto said before he started shooting the clones.

He was right; one shot deflated each copy. Soon they were out of bullets and thought they were out of luck as well. None of these copies had any form of weapon, so Adriana and Ianto were unsure of the damage the copies could cause. Ianto dropped his gun and quickly took off is suit jacket. He wrapped it around his hand and punched the window above the door. Adriana realized what he was doing a grabbed a piece of glass. She pulled the sleeve of her sweater over her hand and began stabbing the remaining clones. The glass cut through Adriana's sleeve and Ianto's jacket but there weren't many copies left. Once the last one was deflated, they looked at their hands. The cuts were deep, but not serious and they continued. They had to find Jack and Gwen.

"Why did you need Torchwood?" Jack asked.

"If Torchwood was unable to defend Earth from aliens then I would have free range over the defenseless, dirty humans," she replied. She held up her control and waved it over a picture of Jack, then held it out in front of her and pressed a button. A copy of Jack materialized before her.

"Go, find the others and kill them," she said to it and it immediately left.

Gwen noticed that in the picture that she had copied, Jack's gun was visible. She looked at the copy and saw Jack's gun on the copy. She panicked.

"What kind of technology is that?" Gwen asked.

"Obviously, it's not of Earth. It's superior," she laughed coldly.

Jack and Gwen looked at each other and nodded before both of them fought their way out of the grasp of the copies. They both got out their guns quickly and deflated each of them. While they were shooting the copies, the alien used the technology on her self and produced multiple copies of her self. Jack and Gwen are confused as to which was copy and which was the real one. Jack shoots the control, which was on the ground, and then the copies of the alien.

The alien laughed "The clones will continue even after this is broken." She kicked at the mangled control.

Jack shot the alien. But she deflated.

"Fuck! She was a clone too!" Gwen yelled.

"We have to find her," Jack said as they left.

Gwen looked at the energy monitor. "She's still in the building."

Adriana and Ianto searched the entire first floor for Jack and Gwen and were in a small room on the second floor when Jack appeared in the doorway.

"Jack! Where's Gwen? Are you two alright?" Adriana asked, stepping towards him.

He said nothing.

"Jack?" Ianto called over the com, praying that it worked.

"Ianto? Is everything okay?" Jack's voice responded.

But the Jack in the door way said nothing.

Adriana rolled her eyes and was about to find a way to deflate the clone when he raised a gun. He pointed at her and she stumbled backwards.

"ADRIANA GET BACK!" Ianto bellowed, trying to push her out of the way before the copy pulled the trigger.

They weren't quick enough. The shot rang out and the bullet hit Adriana's right shoulder. The force turned her around and she stumbled into Ianto's chest. Another shot to her back. Ianto was pulling out his gun as a third shot rang out, just narrowly missing his head. He screamed and shot the clone four times before Adriana screamed in pain.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Jack screamed over the com, it sounded as if he was running.

"Adriana was shot twice, we need help!" Ianto yelled into the com.

Adriana writhed in pain, trying not to look at the blood. She tried to hold back her screams, but she couldn't do much. Her breathing was erratic and she was groaning in pain. Ianto pulled Adriana's sweater off and used it to apply pressure to one of her wounds. Her camisole and bra were soaked in blood from the shot on her shoulder and the one on the left side of her back.

"Damn it! You two need to get out of there NOW!" Jack demanded, his voice sounded panicked.

"We're placing explosives around the building. We found a HUGE nest of clones on the second floor of the east wing and we know the alien controlling everything is in the building somewhere," Jack said.

"You need to get out!" Gwen yelled.

"I can't stop her bleeding! She won't make it if I don't!" Ianto shouted.

"Go," Adriana forced out.

"No!"

"Go, Ianto! Damn it, just GO!" Adriana insisted, pushing him away from her.

"No chance in hell!" He yelled at her and picked her up.

"You have three minutes, Ianto! COME ON!" Jack screamed.

Ianto ran with Adriana in his arms. She was in more pain from the angle and the pressure and more blood was lost. She was unconscious in seconds. Ianto was determined. He ran through the hallways and quickly made his way down the stairs, stumbling at the end. Jack and Gwen were yelling for him to hurry over the com. He made it out with five seconds to spare. The building exploded behind him and the force propelled him forwards. A piece of metal landed hard next to him and bounced up and cut the side of his leg. He cried out in pain and tried to continue but the extra weight from Adriana was too much. Jack was running towards them and Gwen rushed to the SUV for the first aid kit. Ianto fell to his knees and tried to get back up. Debris was still falling around them and the fire was raging behind them. Jack grabbed Adriana from Ianto and ran to the SUV. Ianto was able to make his way quickly after Jack without the extra weight.

Jack set the unconscious and extremely pale Adriana on the ground. He felt for a pulse. "She has a pulse but its faint!" he exclaimed. He quickly stopped the bleeding on both of her wounds. "She lost a lot of blood. We need to get her to the Hub."

Gwen helped Ianto stop the bleeding on his leg as Jack put Adriana in the car. They sped back to the Hub as quickly as they could. Jack immediately ran holding Adriana to the autopsy bay. Gwen carefully sterilized her wounds as Jack rummaged around looking for the blood transfusions of her type. He hooks her up to monitors and puts in her iv. Ianto watched them as he sterilized his own wound. Jack then stitched up Ianto's leg while Gwen changed Adriana out of her bloody and dirty clothes and into one of Jack's t-shirts. After Ianto was stitched up, he found a sheet to put over her so she didn't get cold on the metal autopsy table. The sheet was used to cover dead bodies and aliens, but it was the though that counted.

It wasn't until six hours later that Adriana woke up. Jack had made Gwen go home for some rest, but Ianto was still there. He had changed into some of Jack's clothes as well because he refused to go home. Jack was watching from the top of the stairs of the autopsy bay when Adriana woke up. Ianto was dozing off in his chair; his head fell forwards and jarred him awake. Adriana giggled. Ianto and Jack both jumped.

"Addy!" Ianto exclaimed, shocked by her waking up. He got up from his chair and kissed her. Then he was crying into her non-injured shoulder. She was confused as to why.

"Ianto, they're only bullet wounds," she said stroking his hair.

"Do you know how close the bullet that hit your back was to your heart?" Ianto asked, looking at her now.

"No, I was kind of unconscious for that part," she said, catching one of his tears.

"You had lost so much blood we were afraid you'd slip into a coma," Ianto continued.

"I didn't," she stated, smiling at his worry.

"Are you in pain?" he asked.

"Not at all," she said truthfully.

He was silent for a few moments. "I'm sorry," he whispered, sitting down.

"Um, why?" she asked. She didn't think there was anything to apologize for.

"I didn't push you out of the way soon enough," he said, looking down at his hands.

"Don't you dare, Ianto Jones!" she scolded.

"What?"

"Don't you dare mope and sulk like a puppy over this!"

Jack smiled at her scolding Ianto.

"I'm not moping nor am I sulking like a puppy," he insisted.

"Yes, you are. That face right there; it's your mopey face," Adriana pointed.

"I don't have a mopey face!" Ianto countered.

"Well, prove it and never think or say that this was your fault ever, EVER again. Do you hear me?" Adriana reprimanded.

"Yes . . . _Mother_," he said and leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.

They were quiet for a few moments and Jack was just about to go down and check on Adriana's bandages when he heard: "Cheer up, Charliiieeee. Give me a smiiile." Adriana was singing. Very badly.

Ianto looked at her like she was completely mental. He appeared as if he weren't sure if he was supposed to laugh or call for help. Adriana started giggling uncontrollably.

Jack went down into the autopsy bay and caught some of Adriana's laughter. "I think I gave her too much pain killers. I wasn't sure how much to give her since she wasn't awake to tell me how much it hurt," Jack explained.

"Oh, right, good," Ianto said with his hands on his hips watching with concern as Adriana controled her mirth.

Jack checked her temperature and blood pressure as Adriana settled down. She looked at Ianto for a moment then she looked up at Jack. "He's not smiling. Why's he not smiling?"

"He has no sense of humor," Jack replied.

"No, I thought she was seriously deranged," Ianto defended himself.

"Nope," she sighed. "Just stoned."

Jack laughed and Ianto cracked a smile.

"I should get shot more often," Adriana suggested.

"No," Jack and Ianto both said.

"I should get an iv of too much pain killers more often," she corrected herself.

"Still a no," Ianto said, smiling again and moving to hold her hand.

"Looks like you're going to be making a full recovery," Jack declared as he finished checking everything.

"See? Nothing to feel guilty about," Adriana said to Ianto as he moved his chair to be closer to her.

Jack left them alone and went up to his office.

Ianto nodded but didn't look relieved.

"Do I need to sing again?" Adriana asked.

"No," Ianto said and smiled. "Please, don't."

Adriana smiled in return and kissed him.

**AN:** I told you there were gun shot wounds.

I got more ideas, so I condensed this story line into two chapters. And more should be coming soon. Not sure when though. 

Oh, also, I started a C2 for stories with original characters. You can get to it from my profile. I have a few in there that I recommend as well as this story. So if you know of any other stories with original characters, then I think you have to PM me so that I can add it. But I'll add any and all Torchwood OC fics. I'm not going to pick only the ones I like because something I don't like may be something you love. 


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